Editorial approach
How our reviews work
The Retirement Index is built around one editorial rule: retirement content should show its work.
Before a company is recommended, we define the criteria used to evaluate it. For Gold IRA companies, those criteria include fee transparency, IRS-compliance posture, custodian and trustee arrangements, storage and depository relationships, approved-metals catalog, complaint patterns, pricing and dealer markup, buyback terms, and sales-pressure signals.
Tax and regulatory claims are sourced to primary sources where possible, including the IRS, SEC, FINRA, CFPB, Treasury, Government Accountability Office, and U.S. Tax Court materials. Company-level claims are checked against public records, written fee schedules, complaint patterns, and direct documentation where available.
Articles are produced by The Retirement Index Editorial Team. We use a house byline because the publication is accountable for the work. We do not use invented names, fabricated credentials, or AI-generated headshots. When an article is reviewed by an external credentialed professional, the reviewer’s name, credential, review date, and scope of review are listed on that article. Until a reviewer has been engaged, we state that openly.
Our full editorial workflow, conflict-of-interest policy, sourcing rules, corrections policy, and update cadence are published on our editorial standards page. Our affiliate model is published on our disclosure page.