Political Metals

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| AFE Review | BullionVault Review | GoldMoney Review | Comparison |

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Summary of Transaction Fees & Storage Cost

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Old fees schedule

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Key differences in transaction fees, storage fees and how the fees are charged by GoldMoney, BullionVault and AFE.

1. Transaction fees

All three providers offer a sliding scale transaction fee schedule, where larger transactions have lower rates. However, only BullionVault maintains this sliding scale fee schedule for transactions accumulated over one calender year. The accumulated transaction volume is reset at the anniversary of your account opening date.

GoldMoney does not currently charge any fees for a Sell transaction (although they may do so “under extreme market conditions”).

2. Storage fees 

Both BullionVault and Goldmoney offer a sliding scale storage fees, where larger holdings have a lower rate. BullionVault’s storage fees are calculated based on total holdings across all vaults while GoldMoney applies the fees schedule separately for holdings in each vault. Both BullionVault and GoldMoney impose a minimum storage fee per month. When your metal holdings fall below their minimum thresholds, the monthly fees as a percentage of your holdings will be substantially higher.

3. Managing your monthly storage fees

BullionVault’s fees are based on the cash value of your holding (weight x market price). Every month, the total calculated storage fees will be debited from your cash balance in your base currency of choice. Your metal holding (weight) remains untouched.

GoldMoney’s fees are based on your metal holdings (weight only). Every month, the total calculated storage fees (in grams for gold, platinum, palladium & ounces for silver) will be debited from your metal holding balances, while your cash balance remains untouched.

For BullionVault, you’ll have to maintain a positive cash balance or sell a small amount of metal each month to cover the storage fees. From experience, they are not strict on occasional negative cash balances as long as you periodically transfer in cash or sell metals to cover the overdue fees. For GoldMoney, you just buy your metals and forget about it.
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Cost of Ownership Comparison: GoldMoney Vs BullionVault Vs AFE
Updated after GoldMoney reduced storage fees in April 2013

Due to the differences in the method of storage fee calculation (based on weight Vs cash value) it is rather difficult to make a precise comparison of the overall cost of ownership, especially for small holdings attracting minimum storage fees. Small holdings below their minimum thresholds are especially sensitive to the effect of price changes.

Another difference affecting the cost of ownership (which is difficult to quantify) is the different methods used to determine buy or sell prices. GoldMoney offers to buy and sell you metals based on spot prices, with no spread. BullionVault’s realtime system allows you to buy and sell based on ask and bid prices of other users (including BullionVault), with a spread that vary according to market conditions.

To obtain a general broad picture comparison, we translate the fees schedule in the tables above into charts for several scenarios below:-

If an initial sum of US$4,000 were utilized to buy silver at $40 per ounce at GoldMoney, BullionVault and AFE, you’ll have 96.16oz, 99.50oz and 91.12oz respectively after applying their “Buy” fees as per the table above. If you sell the metals after storing it for 7 years, you’ll end up with a net metal weight of 92.926oz, 82.29oz, 89.34oz respectively after applying their storage and “Sell” fees. In this case, GoldMoney offers the best value, followed by AFE and BullionVault.

Note: Storage fees used in calculations are for non-segregated bars. BullionVault has a surcharge for segregated bars storage, whereas GoldMoney and AFE have none. AFE has no one time fee for segregated bars unlike GoldMoney and Bullion. These small one time fees are not included in calculations because they vary with bar sizes. GoldMoney’s storage fees reduction effective April 2013 also reduced their monthly minimums to extremely small numbers (0.001g for gold; 0.001oz for silver), making them the cheapest for long term storage of small holdings for silver and gold. 

Repeating this exercise with $25,000 and $1 million for silver and the same three initial sums for gold, your net metal weight after holding them for a 1-year and 7-year period is summarized in the charts below. Detailed spreadsheet calculations & assumptions can be found here.
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Summary of Cost Comparison (GoldMoney Vs BullionVault Vs AFE)

Overall, BullionVault offers the lowest cost, followed by GoldMoney and AFE.

Note however that cost is only one of many factors to consider when selecting a bullion service provider. You should consider other factors here.-
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Updated: December 31 March 2013

Please post your comments & share your experience, especially  if you’ve used this service. Thank you.

Disclaimer: The above information is provided on a best-effort basis. It’s accuracy is not guaranteed, and may not reflect the most recent changes made by the service providers. Please perform your own due diligence and verify the information from their respective websites before making any decisions. The reviews are the personal opinion of the author and does not constitute any endorsement or recommendation.