Plain-English Affiliate Disclosure
In compliance with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines, please assume that certain links on The Secure Investor are affiliate links.
This means that if you click on an external link on our site and subsequently open a self-directed Gold IRA, purchase precious metals, or subscribe to an independent investment research service, The Secure Investor may receive a referral commission or compensation from the partner.
Crucially, this compensation comes at zero additional cost to you. You will never pay higher fees, inflated bullion premiums, or steeper subscription rates by utilizing links on our site. In fact, providers frequently offer reduced account setup fees, waived custodian administration charges, or trial rates exclusively to readers of vetted educational publications.
Why Our Links Route Through /go/
When you click an outbound link to an approved partner on our website, you may notice that the URL starts with an internal path such as:
We route all commercial and referral links through an internal server-side redirect system for four specific reasons:
1. Reader Privacy & Malware Protection
Standard affiliate links often load bulky third-party JavaScript tracking scripts directly onto web pages. By isolating affiliate links behind our server redirects, we prevent third-party tracking scripts from running in your browser while you read our content.
2. Auditable Security & Verified Destinations
Our editorial desk centrally manages and audits every destination URL. This ensures you are directed exclusively to verified, encrypted, official websites, protecting readers against spoofed domains and phishing scams.
3. Zero Broken Links & Updated Portals
When financial institutions update their onboarding portals or secure transfer forms, centralized redirects allow us to update the endpoint instantly, preventing 404 errors across historical educational guides.
4. Clear Commercial Delineation
The /go/ prefix signals to readers and search engines alike that an outbound link is a commercial referral rather than an editorial source citation or non-commercial regulatory filing.
Our Commercial Independence Guarantee
Many financial comparison portals operate as thinly veiled marketing engines for whoever pays the highest referral bounty. At The Secure Investor, we operate under an ironclad commitment:
The 4 Commitments of Our Commercial Policy
- 1Identical Skeptical Scrutiny:A product with an affiliate program receives the exact same rigorous, skeptical evaluation as a product without one. If a partnered provider has flaws, we publish them prominently.
- 2Red Flags Trumps Commissions:If any provider charges predatory spreads, locks clients into high-pressure proof coin contracts, or obscures depository charges, we will warn readers regardless of commission potential. We routinely decline lucrative affiliate partnerships that fail our standards.
- 3Coverage of Non-Affiliate Products:We regularly review and recommend products, custodians, and public educational resources that offer zero affiliate compensation whenever they represent the best choice for the investor.
- 4Freedom to Bypass:You are under zero obligation to use our links. If you prefer that The Secure Investor receive no referral commission, you can simply open a separate browser tab and navigate directly to any provider's address bar. Our research remains freely available to you either way.
Further Inquiries
If you have questions regarding a specific link, partnership, or disclosure on our website, please explore our related policies or reach out to our team: