Directed IRA Review: Is Directed Trust Company Right for Your Gold IRA?

What Directed IRA Actually Is

The name “Directed IRA” is the consumer-facing brand. The legal entity is Directed Trust Company, an Arizona trust company that holds a state charter issued by the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI). That distinction has real practical weight.

The self-directed IRA industry contains two structurally different types of operators:

• Third-party administrators (TPAs): Handle paperwork, investment direction, and record-keeping, but rely on a separately chartered bank or trust company to actually hold retirement assets in custody. The TPA and the custodian are two different businesses.
• Chartered custodians: Hold a direct authorization from state or federal regulators to custody assets themselves. No additional institutional layer is required.

Directed Trust Company falls into the second category. Its Arizona charter means DIFI supervises the company directly, applying the same regulatory framework that governs state-chartered banks and trust companies in Arizona. When you open an account with Directed IRA, the assets sit with Directed Trust Company itself rather than passing through a third-party bank. For a detailed comparison of custodian structures across the SDIRA industry, see our guide on who regulates gold IRA custodians.

This arrangement does not eliminate risk or replace your own due diligence. What it does remove is one layer of institutional complexity that TPA arrangements add by design.

The Founders and Their Educational Footprint

Directed IRA was built by two professionals who had spent years teaching investors about self-directed retirement strategies before launching a custodian. Understanding who founded it is useful context because many investors encounter the firm through their content first.

Mat Sorensen serves as Founder and CEO. He holds a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law and is a senior partner at KKOS Lawyers, LLP, a national tax and business law firm with multiple offices. Sorensen authored The Self-Directed IRA Handbook, which has sold over 60,000 copies and is widely cited as the most-referenced book in the SDIRA industry. He co-hosts two podcasts with Kohler: the Directed IRA Podcast, which has surpassed 500,000 downloads, and the Main Street Business Podcast, which has passed three million downloads.

Mark J. Kohler sits on the Board of Directors and serves as CFO. He is a CPA and attorney, also a senior partner at KKOS Lawyers. Kohler has authored four books on tax strategy and small business finance. His YouTube channel carries over 600,000 subscribers, and he co-hosts the same two podcasts alongside Sorensen.

This educational footprint is genuinely notable for two reasons. First, investors who arrive at Directed IRA through Sorensen’s or Kohler’s content tend to have a clearer understanding of SDIRA mechanics than those who respond to a paid ad. That self-selection effect can reduce friction in the account setup process. Second, the founders’ published work gives you a direct view of their tax and investment philosophy before committing to their platform.

What the educational footprint does not change is the firm’s operating history. Deep knowledge of SDIRA law is not the same as two decades of custodial experience through multiple market cycles. Investors who require a long institutional track record should weigh that honestly against the firm’s 2018 founding date.

Arizona Charter and Federal IRA Requirements

Self-directed IRAs must be held by a “trustee” or “custodian” as defined in Internal Revenue Code Section 408(a) and (h). Most custodians satisfy this requirement either by qualifying as a bank or by meeting the IRS criteria for a nonbank trustee under Treasury Regulation 1.408-2. State-chartered trust companies can satisfy this requirement when they comply with those nonbank trustee criteria.

Directed Trust Company’s Arizona charter positions it to operate as a qualified custodian for self-directed IRAs. Investors should confirm that status directly with Directed IRA and consult their own tax adviser before transferring retirement assets. The Arizona DIFI oversees state trust companies under Arizona Revised Statutes Title 6, Chapter 8, which includes capital requirements, periodic examination cycles, and a consumer complaint process. If a regulatory dispute with Directed Trust Company arises, DIFI is the appropriate first point of contact at difi.az.gov.

Precious Metals in a Directed IRA Account

A self-directed IRA at Directed Trust Company can hold IRS-approved precious metals. The governing rules live in IRS Publication 590-B and Internal Revenue Code Section 408(m), which set minimum fineness thresholds:

• Gold: 0.995 fineness minimum (the American Gold Eagle coin is a named statutory exception at 0.9167 purity)
• Silver: 0.999 fineness minimum
• Platinum: 0.9995 fineness minimum
• Palladium: 0.9995 fineness minimum

These purity standards apply regardless of which custodian you use. Holding a non-compliant coin or bar inside an IRA constitutes a prohibited transaction under IRC Section 4975, which can cause the entire account to be treated as distributed and subject to ordinary income tax plus a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you are under 59.5 years old.

Directed IRA’s role in a precious metals purchase is administrative. It receives your investment direction, executes the transaction with a dealer you specify, and coordinates delivery to an IRS-approved depository. Directed IRA does not sell metals. You need to source those from a separate, IRS-approved precious metals dealer. The custodian and the dealer perform two distinct functions in the same transaction, and each company charges separately for its role.

IRS rules require that physical metals held inside an IRA be stored at an IRS-approved depository. You cannot take personal possession of the metals, store them at home, or place them in a bank safe deposit box that you control. IRC Section 408(m)(3)(B) makes this requirement explicit. Contact Directed IRA directly for their current list of approved depositories and the associated storage fees, as these details change and vary by account type.

Fee Structure: What to Verify Before Opening

Directed IRA publishes its fee schedule at directedira.com. Because custodian fees change, and because the relevant pages were not accessible for live verification at the time this review was written, we are not quoting specific dollar amounts here. Publishing stale fee figures in a decision of this size would not serve you accurately.

The standard fee categories for a self-directed IRA custodian are:

• Account setup fee: A one-time charge when you open the account. Varies by custodian and sometimes by account type (Traditional, Roth, SEP, SIMPLE).
• Annual maintenance or administration fee: Covers ongoing record-keeping, IRS reporting (Form 5498, Form 1099-R), and account servicing. Some custodians charge a flat fee per account; others scale by asset value.
• Transaction fees: Charged per investment direction, per asset purchase or sale, or per wire transfer. In a precious metals context, each time you direct the custodian to buy or sell metals, this fee typically applies.
• Storage fees: Billed by the depository, not the custodian, and usually passed through on your custodian statement. Typically annual and based on the value or physical weight of metals held.
• Account termination or transfer fee: Charged when you close the account or transfer assets to a different custodian.

Before opening an account, request the current fee schedule in writing. Calculate the all-in annual cost at your expected account balance and transaction frequency: setup (prorated year one) plus annual maintenance plus estimated transaction count times per-transaction fee plus storage. Reviewing only one line item produces an incomplete picture of what you will actually pay each year.

For a side-by-side fee comparison across multiple custodians that accept precious metals, see our guide on every SDIRA custodian accepting precious metals.

Growth, AUM, and BBB Standing

Directed Trust Company has grown considerably since its 2018 launch. As of the most recent public figures from company leadership, the firm oversees approximately $2.5 billion in alternative assets. The company earned a spot on the INC 500 list, reflecting reported three-year revenue growth of 1,134%, placing it among the fastest-growing private companies in the United States during that measurement period.

Rapid growth signals real demand, but it does not substitute for operating longevity. A custodian that has managed client assets through a full market cycle, including an extended period of declining asset values, has demonstrated its operational processes under stress. Directed IRA, launched in 2018, has not yet accumulated that history.

The Better Business Bureau lists Directed Trust Company with an A+ rating. The company is not BBB accredited as of the date of this review. The A+ reflects the BBB’s assessment of factors including complaint history, business practices, and time in business, but it is one data point among several rather than a comprehensive custodian quality score.

Who Directed IRA Works Best For

Directed IRA is a strong candidate for investors who meet most of these criteria:

• You want a single custodial relationship that can hold multiple alternative asset classes beyond metals, including real estate, private lending, and private equity, without opening accounts at separate firms.
• You have already read the SDIRA rules, understand prohibited transactions under IRC Section 4975, and are prepared to take an active role in directing your own investments.
• You are comfortable opening an account with a custodian launched in 2018, having verified its regulatory standing with the Arizona DIFI.
• You encountered Directed IRA through Sorensen’s or Kohler’s educational content and want to work within the framework they teach.
• You understand that Directed IRA is a custodian only, and you have already identified or plan to identify a separate, IRS-approved dealer for your precious metals purchases.

Who Should Consider Other Options

Directed IRA may not be the right fit if any of these describe your situation:

• You want a single company to guide you from initial inquiry through metal delivery, with the dealer and custodian functions handled as an integrated service. Directed IRA operates only on the custodian side of that transaction.
• You want a custodian with 15 or more years of continuous operating history and a documented operational record through multiple market cycles.
• You are opening your first self-directed IRA and want substantial guided support through account setup and the initial metal purchase. Educational content and account servicing are different products.
• Your primary goal is precious metals only and a broader alternative-asset platform adds complexity you do not need or want to pay for.

What You Need Beyond a Custodian

A custodian holds your IRA assets and handles administrative requirements. It does not select, source, or sell you metals. To hold physical gold or silver inside an IRA at Directed Trust Company, you need to identify an IRS-approved precious metals dealer separately.

The dealer’s role is to confirm that the metals meet IRS purity standards, execute the purchase at the current spot price plus any dealer premium, and arrange direct shipment to the IRS-approved depository your custodian specifies. No IRS-approved precious metals IRA allows you to take personal possession of the metals first and contribute them to the account afterward. That constitutes a prohibited transaction under IRC Section 4975.