Is $160 annual fee for a precious metals Roth IRA a hefty amount?

[QuarterMillionMan]

I'm currently paying $160 a year in storage ($100 per year) and administrative fees ($60) for a precious metals IRA account. I'm using Goldstar Trust (in Texas) as the trustee that stores my precious metals in a third party vault (in Delaware). The current market value of this Roth IRA is approx. $21,000. This annual fee amounts to about a 1% annual fee. Is this a hefty amount to be paying for a Roth IRA?

[dczech09]

I'm not a gold investor, but from what I have seen, fees for gold IRA's are usually a fraction of a percent with a minimum and maximum.

I have seen minimums as low as $35 and maximums as high as $295.

I think a good rule of thumb would be the same for mutual funds: if your annual expense ratio for a mutual fund is greater than 1%, then it is too high. For a gold fund, you want to check out the storage and administration fees.

For you, you are paying $160 in fees on a $21,000 balance, which is about 0.76%. So that appears to be in line for the most part.

Please note that I am not a gold investor, so you may want to check with someone who has experience with gold IRAs.