Start with the documents you actually received
Place the fee schedule, product quote and storage terms beside the worksheet. Type the amounts that apply to the proposed account, identifying one-time setup separately from annual administration and storage. If a schedule charges by another period or uses a variable rate, ask for the annual amount applicable to your proposal before entering a number.
Do not fill a gap from memory or from another company's example. Our questions after a kit arrives can help obtain missing documents. A spoken figure can be recorded, but the written-schedule question should remain unanswered until you receive the applicable schedule itself.
Know what the sum means
The sum adds only the three fee entries described above, in USD. If one or more is blank, the result is marked partial. An invalid fee entry prevents a sum until corrected. Enter 0 only where the terms explicitly establish a zero charge. A blank field never supplies an assumed zero.
The account minimum is a funding or purchase threshold, not a fee. The quoted spread or markup is also kept outside the sum. Metal purchase prices, other transaction charges, taxes and future changes are outside it. The result cannot establish the lowest overall cost or tell you which investment to choose.
The CFTC/FINRA metals bulletin explains why product pricing and repurchase terms need separate attention. A small administration charge can sit beside a poorly explained product price. Ask the seller how it defines a quoted percentage before comparing it with a percentage using another basis.
Preserve the words behind a percentage
In the buyback-terms box, record how the seller described its bid, whether either side is obliged to transact, and where to find the written policy. If the rep used spread or markup, add its definition there too. A markup over a reference price and a gap between purchase and repurchase quotes are different measurements.
Use the fee discussion at The Rank Sheet to organize commercial questions. The Rank Sheet is our sister site; we may earn a commission if you sign up with a company through it. Its examples should not be copied into this worksheet unless those same terms are confirmed for the proposal you actually received.
Match names as well as figures
Record the custodian and depository separately from the seller. Our guide to the parties' responsibilities explains why they need separate names and documents. A known custodian is not evidence that a proposed metal price was independently evaluated; the SEC self-directed IRA alert makes that limit clear.
For additional company research, the broader provider comparison supplies background and the separate Goldco profile addresses that seller. Keep those reading notes separate from the figures and promises supplied for your own account. This table does not verify any company entry.
Print the record you want to keep
Use Update comparison after editing, then Print / save as PDF. Printing also updates the table from the current inputs. Your browser chooses the printer or PDF destination; nothing is uploaded by the worksheet. If JavaScript is disabled, use the browser's print menu to print the blank table and complete it by hand.
The worksheet does not save your entries between visits. Your browser may restore form state, and files or printed copies you create remain wherever you save them. Keep account numbers and personal identity documents out of these fields. The site's ordinary page analytics is described in our privacy policy; worksheet entries are not added to those events.
IRS Publication 3125 warns that the agency does not approve individual investments. A complete-looking worksheet is likewise a record of your answers, not an endorsement. Review the actual agreements, resolve contradictions with the responsible party and ask a tax professional about personal account questions before giving transaction instructions.