Lear Capital: All To Know About
Company Background
Lear Capital is a reputable precious metal investment company founded in 1997 by its current president, Kevin DeMeritt, in Los Angeles, CA. The company offers standard coins and bullion products as well as precious metal IRA products for those looking to invest from their IRA. Customers reviewed Lear Capital with 4.8/5 on TrustPilot, and 4.7/5 on ConsumerAffairs websites.
The company has gone through the rigorous process of becoming a PCGS (Professional Coin Grading Service) Authorized Dealer and abide by their grading standards for accuracy, authenticity, and integrity. They also support NGC's coin grading standard as well as ICTA on tax-related issues that affect tangible assets like coins.
Contact Details
Address: 1990 S Bundy Dr #600 Los Angeles, CA 90025-5256
Phone: (800) 576-9355
Fax: (310) 571-0194
Email: jeremyjason@learcapital.com
Business Hours: 9:00 am to 6:00 pm PST.
Products & Services
1. Exclusive to Lear Capital coins
Lear Capital is the only US retailer authorized to sell Orca, Snowy Owl, Falcon, and Grizzly Bear from Arctic Fox. These are issued by the Royal Canadian Mint, come in quarter-and-a-half ounce sizes, and are made of pure silver and gold. These coins are eligible to be included in a precious metal IRA.
2. Standard Coins
Eagles, Maple Leafs, Sovereigns, and Krugerrands. Lear Capital premium coin selection also has Liberty Series, Indian Series, American Buffalo, Austrian 4 Ducats.
On the Lear Capital website, you can find complete information about each coin. This includes the coin name, the name of the designer, the date of issue, the composition, the diameter, the weight, the bus mint, and the proof mint details.
Unfortunately, Lear Capital doesn’t offer any Gold bars, bullion, palladium, or platinum. This is a major deficiency of Lear Capital’s physical precious metal services. Because coins are expensive types of gold investment products for investors.
Investing in coins is more expensive than investing in bullion or bars due to higher premiums. Most investors avoid buying coins since they don’t get the same per ounce price they can get with bullion and bars.
3. Gold IRA Rollover Services
It is important to have a diversified retirement portfolio. Since investing all in cash is not a smart decision.
Gold is the best asset for diversifying the retirement portfolio. Gold IRA is a self-directed IRA that allows people to hold a certain portion of their retirement assets in physical gold as well as other precious metals. However, only IRS-approved gold can be included within a gold IRA plan.
Lear Capital offers its clients gold IRA services. The process of rolling over a traditional IRA to a gold IRA is quite simple. If you call a customer representative he/she will help you with the entire rollover process.
How does Lear Capital gold IRA rollover work?
The first step is to open a gold IRA account with Lear Capital. The team member walks the customer through an easy application process and then assists the customer in sending the form back to their offices via fax, email, or mail.
When you open a Precious Metals IRA with Lear Capital, your investments are stored at an IRS-approved and insured storage facility. You can choose to either take physical possession of the metals or liquidate them when they reach their mandatory distribution limit (as determined by the IRS).
Where does Lear Capital store customers' metals purchased within an IRA?
Lear Capital ships all metals directly to the Delaware Depository, which has been an industry-leading IRS-approved depository for safeguarding precious metals since 1999. DDSC backs its storage services with a comprehensive insurance policy underwritten by Lloyds of London (one of the world's oldest insurers).
The state-of-the-art facility is an ideal solution for the safe and secure private storing of your precious metals. The Delaware Depository is one of the few places that offer 100% insurance on your metals. These assets are covered for any physical damage or loss due to outside sources, even if they’re caused by natural disasters like fire, flood, etc.
How long does Lear Capital IRA rollover take?
It takes one business day to open a new Precious Metals IRA and receive the account number. Depending on the customer's current retirement account custodian, the duration of rollover varies. However, funds are transferred between accounts usually within 5 business days.
Payment Methods
Ratings
Lear Capital is registered with the following organizations as a member:
- Industrial Council for Tangible Assets
- Business Consumer Alliance
- Trust Link
- Numismatic Guaranty Corporation
- Professional Coin Grading Service.
Fees
There is a $180 yearly fee for insurance, shipping, quarterly balance sheets, and access to their account online 24/7. Here are some other fees that may apply.
- Setup Fees $275
- Annual Admin Fees $100
- Annual Storage Fees $150
The minimum required investment amount with Lear Capital is set as $10,000.
Education Materials & Tools
Lear Capital offers a lot of educational material available including an online learning section, investor tools, a free investor kit as well as a news section that publishes fresh content.
Other than that investors can benefit from Lear Capital's Portfolio Comparison Calculator and RMD estimator.
Distributions
People invest in precious metals because they keep their intrinsic value well over time. And it is proven to be right if you look at the historical value gain in gold.
Even while the economy is not doing well, precious metals can maintain their value, or they gain value.
Conversely, if the economy plummets, a conventional IRA could lose its value. Because a conventional IRA is backed by paper assets. Gold and other precious metal IRAs are recognized as a safeguard against market risks, for this simple fact.
As Lear states, a Precious Metals IRA will offer you a choice not available with typical retirement accounts when you're about to retire and withdraw funds: the freedom to physically hold the metals in order to continue distribution.
Although you will be subject to annual Required Minimum Distributions (RMD), you also have the alternative to liquidate your account.
Required Minimum Distributions
| IRA Balance | Age | Estimated Annual RMD |
| $10,000 | 70 | $364.96 |
| $75,000 | 70 | $2,737.23 |
| $150,000 | 70 | $5,474.45 |
| $200,000 | 70 | $7,299.27 |
Does Lear Capital buy back precious metals?
If the customer decides to sell their coins back to Lear Capital at some point, Lear Capital doesn’t promise to buy back sold coins. However, even Lear Capital would be willing to buy back customer coins, they wouldn’t be willing to pay more than market valuation. I guess it would make sense for everyone.
Pros and Cons of working with Lear Capital
As every company has its own plus and minus, Lear Capital is not an exception. We will assess if the company’s positive features outweigh its negative features.
👍 Pros
Quick Transactions: With Lear Capital, you can enjoy greater freedom and peace of mind with your finances. The transactions are done in a timely fashion without any hassles.
Great customer support: Lear Capital has an impeccable customer support team that is ready to help customers with any troubleshooting they may need when it comes to setting up a gold IRA.
The knowledgeable representatives are always willing to provide immediate assistance and can quickly identify the root cause of the issue, even if you're not sure what's wrong yourself!
Help to avoid penalties: Lear Capital is one of the few companies that can help customers avoid incurring tax penalties when transferring a standard IRA to precious metals.
Customer Education: The Lear Capital website offers a slew of resources for customers looking to invest in precious metals. From the Precious Metals Encyclopedia, which provides detailed information on gold IRAs and coins, to bullion that can be purchased with IRA funds.
👎 Cons
Long IRA Transfer Process Times
Once you decide to roll over your traditional IRA to a gold IRA, you don't want to deal with a ton of work. In our research, the IRA transfer process takes about 5-30 Business Days which is longer than the industry average.
Long 401(K) Rollover Process Times
Similar to IRA Transfer Process times, the 401(K) Rollover Process also takes a quite long time with Lear Capital. To be more specific it may take 30+ Business Days.
Long Physical Precious Metal Delivery Times
If you have made cash orders for coins ( you cannot buy bullion and bars from Lear Capital) you have to wait 14 days for your delivery. The long physical precious metal delivery period is another minus of the company.
Lear Capital doesn’t offer a Digital IRA Application.
You need to deal with a lot of paperwork which is kind of not weird in the 21st century.
Not listed with the U.S. Mint Listed Dealer
Lear Capital is not a listed company in the U.S. Mint Listed Dealer.
Doesn’t have ICTA Membership
Lear Capital doesn’t have ICTA Membership.
Credit Cards are not accepted
You cannot use your credit card to buy gold from Lear Capital online.
Does Lear Capital have an affiliate program?
Lear Capital has a referral program but doesn't really worth promoting. If you recommend Lear Capital to someone and that person becomes a Lear Capital customer you will receive a free 1.5 oz silver coin.
Even the person ends up buying 3 million dollars of metals you will still get a 1.5 oz silver coin which is about $50 by the time I write this post.
Summary
Lear Capital provides outstanding customer care and goes out of its way to educate clients so they can make a good investment.
The consumer reviews mention how the Lear team is very professional, handles problems with ease, and is able to get back in touch should any issues arise.
