About
About The Retirement Index
The Retirement Index is an independent editorial publication covering retirement planning. Our current focus is on gold IRAs and precious-metals retirement accounts — the most marketed and most often misrepresented corner of the retirement landscape. We plan to expand to annuities, Social Security strategy, Medicare planning, and broader retirement income planning as the publication grows.
Who we’re for
Our readers are pre-retirees and retirees, typically 55 and older, who are researching specific retirement decisions seriously enough to want a publication that treats them as intelligent adults. Many arrive having recently been exposed to direct-mail, cable news, or radio advertising for gold IRAs and are trying to separate marketing from regulated reality.
How we produce content
The Retirement Index does not use individual named bylines. Reviews are produced collectively by the editorial team — with primary-source research, internal review, fact-checking against IRS, SEC, FINRA, CFPB, and Treasury sources, and (when engaged) review by an external credentialed financial professional before publication. This is the same authorship pattern used by Consumer Reports, parts of Wirecutter, and other publications that prioritize editorial accountability over personality. It is transparent and defensible: the publication, not an invented author, stands behind every word.
For the full editorial workflow — including topic selection, fact-checking, reviewer engagement, corrections, and update cadence — see our editorial standards page.
How we make money
The Retirement Index earns commissions from affiliate relationships with some of the companies we recommend. Affiliate relationships do not influence our rankings: companies are evaluated against the published methodology before any commission discussion takes place, and companies that fail the methodology are excluded regardless of the rate they would pay. Our full affiliate model and disclosure are on our disclosure page.
What we don’t do
We don’t predict the price of gold, the direction of the stock market, or the timing of any macroeconomic event. We don’t use fear-based marketing or urgency manufacturing. We don’t endorse “home storage gold IRA” arrangements — the IRS does not permit them and the U.S. Tax Court has ruled against them. And we don’t invent named authors with fabricated credentials to give content unwarranted authority.
Get in touch
For corrections, tips, vendor inquiries, press, or general questions, visit our contact page.