CMI Gold & Silver Review

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CMI Gold & Silver (CMIGS) has been operating out of Phoenix, Arizona since 1973, which puts it among the longest-running bullion dealers in the United States.

Founded by Bill Haynes when silver sat at $2.00 an ounce and Americans still could not legally own gold, the company got its footing in a very different market than the one investors navigate today.

Gold crossed $3,000 per troy ounce in early 2025 and has traded in a volatile range since, with silver moving between roughly $28 and $34 per ounce through the first quarter of 2026. For investors trying to decide where to put their dollars, picking the right dealer matters nearly as much as picking the right metal.

Key Takeaways

• CMI Gold & Silver has operated continuously since 1973 and is staffed by non-commissioned brokers who do not earn more by steering you toward higher-margin products.
• The company requires a minimum purchase of 50 oz of silver or 1 oz of gold per transaction, which suits investors making meaningful, not casual, purchases.
• All orders are placed by phone and priced at the prevailing market rate when the call is made, with no way to renegotiate after prices are locked.

Who Runs This Company

Bill Haynes started CMIGS as Certified Mint Incorporated in a small office near Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. When Americans regained the right to own gold on December 31, 1974, CMIGS was among the first dealers to sell gold bullion commercially.

That detail matters because it tells you the company was built for bullion investors from day one, not for coin collectors or retail walk-ins.

Bill has since retired, but the company remains in the family. His son Mike serves as CEO, his daughter Shannon is President, and Shannon's husband Johnny holds the Vice President of Operations role.

A third generation is now involved: Shannon and Johnny's son Houston runs shipping, and their daughter Sarah works in marketing. The family has retained the company's BBB accreditation and PCGS Authorized Dealer status, which provides an external checkpoint on business practices beyond just the family's own word.

Their stated mission: "To get the most metal into the hands of the American people for the fewest paper dollars." Simple, direct, and pretty much the opposite of what a commission-driven sales model would produce.

What the Phoenix, Arizona Market Context Means for Buyers

Phoenix is one of the faster-growing metros in the country, with Maricopa County adding roughly 50,000 to 60,000 residents per year through the early 2020s.

That population growth has brought in a mix of retirees relocating from higher-cost states, tech and finance workers following employers, and a generally asset-conscious buyer pool.

The region has produced rising demand for hard assets as a hedge against real estate volatility and dollar depreciation, a trend that national bullion dealers have noticed.

CMI's physical offices are on the 11th floor of 3800 N. Central Avenue in Uptown Phoenix, part of the City Square complex. They operate primarily by phone, though in-person appointments are available.

For a firm doing business at scale nationwide, the Phoenix base gives them a Mountain Time Zone operating window that suits buyers across the Western United States, with broker hours running Monday through Thursday from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. MST and Fridays from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. MST.

Arizona's lack of Daylight Saving Time is worth noting for out-of-state buyers: CMI's Friday hours shift relative to Eastern and Pacific time depending on the season, so it's worth confirming cut-off times before placing wire transfers.

Products Available

CMI focuses almost entirely on investment-grade bullion. Their product lineup is deliberately narrow:

CMI actively cautions buyers away from numismatic and collectible coins, noting in their own published materials that these carry premiums that benefit the dealer more than the buyer.

That is a notable position for a dealer to take publicly, and it holds up when you look at what they actually sell: the inventory skews toward standard bullion with low premiums over spot, not graded slabs or commemorative pieces with elevated markups.

Platinum and palladium are available but CMI is candid that they rarely recommend those metals outright, citing industrial-use volatility and price swings driven by interchangeability between the two in manufacturing applications.

How Pricing and Transactions Work

Gold and silver prices move by the minute during market hours. CMI addresses this the straightforward way: all prices are locked in over the phone at the time of the call, and once locked, they do not change regardless of where the market goes.

Payment must arrive within 24 hours of the transaction for buyers; sellers must ship within 24 hours of locking in their sale price.

Payment methods are limited:

• Personal checks, business checks, cashier's checks, or e-checks
• Bank wire transfer

No credit cards, no debit cards, no third-party checks, no checks drawn on foreign banks. Wire transfers ship within 24 to 48 hours. Personal checks under $25,000 are held for five business days before shipping; checks over $25,000 are held for ten days.

During volatile markets or for large orders, CMI may require funds on deposit before prices can be locked. This is standard practice for high-volume dealers and protects both parties when spreads widen suddenly.

Shipping and Privacy

CMI ships via USPS Registered Mail or FedEx 2Day. Registered Mail can be delivered to a P.O. box and works for home or office delivery, though it runs slower and can take up to 14 days in some cases.

FedEx is two days but requires pickup at an authorized FedEx Hold at Location facility. In rare situations, Brinks or Loomis armored transport is arranged.

All packages are insured through Lloyd's of London and shipped in unmarked packaging with the company name removed from the exterior. No precious metals branding, no indication of contents.

On the privacy front, CMI does not require a credit card number, social security number, or multi-page account agreement. They do not sell client information.

In their stated 50-plus years of operation, they report never having been required to disclose client transaction information to a government agency, though they do comply with applicable anti-money-laundering regulations.

Gold and Silver IRA Options

CMI also handles precious metals IRA accounts. With the IRS allowing physical gold and silver in self-directed IRAs since the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, this has become a meaningful part of the bullion dealer market.

CMI facilitates the purchase of IRA-eligible metals, which must meet minimum fineness standards: 99.5% purity for gold, 99.9% for silver. The metals then need to be held by an approved custodian in a qualifying depository, separate from the dealer itself.

CMI can walk buyers through the custodian and storage process, though investors should confirm all custodian fees independently before committing.

What the Market Looks Like Right Now

Gold had its worst monthly performance since October 2008 in March 2026, according to CMI's own spot price recap published on their blog. All four metals declined that month as geopolitical developments drove a flight out of metals temporarily.

Context for that: gold still sits dramatically higher than it did even 12 months prior, so a single bad month does not reverse the broader trend of demand from inflation-wary and geopolitically cautious investors.

Silver at roughly 1/80th the price of gold remains accessible for accumulation-style investing, where buyers add 50 or 100 ounces at a time over months or years. CMI's minimum of 50 ounces per silver transaction fits that approach. At $30 per ounce, that's a $1,500 minimum silver purchase, reasonable for any serious buyer.

What CMI Does Well and Where the Limits Are

The non-commission broker model is the clearest structural advantage. When brokers do not earn more by upselling, the incentive to push high-margin collectibles disappears.

CMI has built that into how they pay their staff, not just how they describe themselves on the website.

The educational resources are genuinely useful. Bill Haynes's archived Monetary Digests go back decades and track his calls on inflation, Federal Reserve policy, and gold pricing over time.

That public record allows prospective buyers to evaluate the quality of the analysis, not just take CMI's word for it. The same applies to their glossary, investment guide, and blog, all of which are freely available without requiring an email signup to access the good parts.

The constraints worth knowing before calling:

• Phone-only order execution. If you prefer a fully digital transaction flow, CMI is not built for that.
• 50-oz silver minimum rules out very small purchases, which is by design but limits entry-level flexibility.
• No credit cards accepted, so payment requires either a wire or a check with associated hold periods.
• Platinum and palladium are available but treated as secondary, niche products rather than core offerings.

CMI Gold & Silver: Quick Reference