What’s the price of gold today? Active investors are always looking at the latest stock prices to find out when to buy or sell. Even investors who are more passive in their approach will check the performance of their mutual funds or ETFs.
While investing in bullion is a rewarding strategy that provides some important diversification to your retirement strategy, buying the real, physical product means that you don’t have the convenience of an app or website that tracks the performance of your investment. When you invest in a mutual fund or stocks through an app, you can quickly look up the performance of your savings, whether you want to compare it to the day before, the quarter, the year, or its lifetime. Digital tools make it easy to quickly see how your money is doing.
Working directly with bullion dealers is usually the best way to get the best prices on gold and silver, but it does leave something to be desired when it comes to tracking the performance of your investment. That’s why we’ve put together these tips for tracking and monitoring bullion prices.
Easy Ways to Auto-Track and Monitor Bullion Prices
There are several different ways you can track gold and silver prices. There are a number of mobile apps that you can use to track bullion prices, as well as other tools and methods that can help broaden your understanding of bullion markets and how you can invest more profitably.
#1 GoldFolio Portfolio Tracker
GoldFolio Portfolio Tracker is a free app made for Apple that allows you to up your game as a precious metal trader. GoldFolio allows you to input all of your bullion assets, including gold, silver, and platinum, and the prices at which you purchased them. The app then tracks commodity markets to show you the real-time value of your precious metal portfolio, as well as profits and losses as markets change. The app tracks this data and transforms it into comprehensive visual graphics to make it quickly consumable.
#2 Use an Excel File
There are a number of other mobile apps out there as well, but one reason you may be reluctant to use them is that suddenly, you are giving information about your bullion portfolio to a third party. You have to be careful about who you give your data to these days, especially when an app is free.
Scientific American found that 7 out of 10 apps share data with third-party tracking companies, and there are many markets for data out there. If you don’t want to put all of the information about your bullion holdings into an app, the best option for you is to use an Excel file.
With this Excel file, record information such as the price at which you purchased bullion and the date on which you purchased it. You can then update it with spot prices for precious metals at regular intervals. This will allow you to quickly track gains and losses. It does take more work than an app that does it automatically, but you can keep your information safe and private.
#3 Check Our Ticker and Live Price Updates
Need a simple, reliable source of information about bullion prices? Look no further than our live ticker of bullion markets, featuring nothing but the most important information on the world’s most popular precious metals. Our live ticker scrolls across all of our pages, so all of the information you need on gold, silver, platinum, and palladium prices is right there.
You can also check out our up-to-date pricing guide if you want to sell to Global Bullion Suppliers. You’ll see our daily prices for a variety of bullion products, ranging from .9999 1 oz. recognized gold coins to 8K jewellery or historical silver coins.
#4 Financial News and Market Updates
You can also follow bullion prices in financial news outlets and get market updates for important information affecting bullion investors. This is a bit more personal, but some of the most reputable sources of market news for bullion come from outlets like Reuters and Bloomberg Market News.
How Do You Evaluate Bullion Price Performance?
Now that you know how to track and monitor prices, how can you evaluate your investments? There are several factors to consider, such as why you are investing in bullion.
Let’s start with the basics: profit vs. loss. This is the single most important metric for judging your investment’s success. One thing you need to keep track of to evaluate your profits and losses is the original purchase price of your investments, as well as the date on which you purchased it. With this information, you can accurately calculate how much your investment has appreciated since you purchased it.
There are other metrics by which you might compare the performance of your bullion, such as comparing its performance to other assets. For example, you may want to compare the performance of your gold bullion to a stock exchange like the NASDAQ or S&P 500. This comparison may or may not be important to you. If you chose to invest in bullion instead of an index fund, the comparison may be highly relevant. However, if you invested in bullion as a hedge against stock market crashes, that relationship is less significant.
One other metric to consider is inflation. You can easily find inflation data online that will allow you to get a more detailed analysis of your investment. It’s not enough to know whether an asset has risen or fallen in price. A complete picture will show you how an asset has performed after inflation. Modest price appreciation can be eaten up by inflation. Compare results to find out how well your bullion is doing.
Buying Gold and Silver: Why You Should Track Bullion Prices
One reason to track the price of bullion is so that you can keep an eye on when to buy more. The investment adage that one should “buy low, sell high” is deceptively simple. It largely goes against human psychology. By definition, buying low means buying an asset when it’s performing poorly.
If you already own some of that asset, you may be reluctant to “double down” and invest even more money into it. However, if you believe in the fundamentals of an asset – and the fundamentals behind bullion have made it a key part of the financial system used by civilizations around the world for thousands of years – a dip is the perfect time to buy. Think of it like this: instead of buying an asset while it’s doing poorly, you’re buying an asset that you want at a discount.
Knowing when to buy is just as important as knowing when to sell, especially when you first get started investing in bullion. It may take you some time to build up a portfolio that you’re happy with. Some advisors suggest setting aside 5 to 10% of your portfolio for bullion, while others suggest going even higher. It may make sense to spread out your purchases over time to reduce your exposure to price change risks.
Selling Gold and Silver: Why Keep an Eye on Bullion Prices
When you invest in valuable precious metals, you need a purchasing strategy and an exit strategy. Whenever you invest, you need to plan ahead to the moment that you decide to cash in your investment. When do you plan on selling? When do you plan on needing the cash? You may be surprised by what financial advisors have to say about the timing of these events.
As you approach the time horizon when you plan on using the cash, your risk tolerance for that money decreases dramatically. You can invest in much more speculative, high-risk environments when you do not plan on spending the money for five, ten, twenty years or longer. It’s because you have more time for an asset to recover if its value crashes.
Bullion tends to provide more stability than stocks, but it is speculative. If you’re worried about the value of bullion on the day you need it, you may want to liquidate your assets well in advance, especially if the market is doing well compared to historical precedent.
On the other hand, many investors buy bullion as a hedge against cash and bonds. If you already possess substantial low-risk assets such as cash in a savings account, bonds, or GICs, it may make more sense to hold onto your bullion assets. Some investors even incorporate bullion into their legacy plans, leaving them to their heirs as a way to secure against inflation and long-term stock risks.
Investing Tips: Aligning Your Goals with Your Next Move
Understanding the factors that influence the price of bullion can make you a smarter, more efficient investor. You can find plenty of resources on this blog that explore the market factors and economic trends that go into the price of bullion, including inflation, stock market volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, industrial demand, and supply constraints. Predicting markets is difficult, and even the most educated prediction is never guaranteed, but with the right understanding of how bullion works, you can make more educated moves.
However, all the insights in the world won’t help if your strategy doesn’t align with your investment goals. The unpredictable nature of markets means you are never going to know when prices will peak throughout the time that you hold an asset. The best you can do is align your decisions with your goals.
For example, if your goal is to use bullion as a hedge against stock market volatility, liquidating your bullion at the same rate as you liquidate high-risk assets is a very effective strategy. It will keep your exposure to both assets in line and free up cash.
On the other hand, if your goal is to protect your estate against inflation for your family, you may never want to sell your bullion. It all depends on your unique circumstances.
It’s easier to make those decisions when you can track and monitor bullion prices. Make informed decisions and find a way to track the performance of your bullion portfolio.