Are you looking for a way to track the performance of your gold investments? Gainesville Coin's portfolio tracker is a free service that allows you to keep track of the historical performance of your precious metal investments. The application creates graphs and tables of the return on your investment, and makes recommendations based on your information and risk tolerance. It also shows you a multitude of other options, including what your investments would look like if you had bonds. You can compare the return on your investment to a stock index to see how your portfolio would have performed in the past. This is a great way to make informed decisions about your investments.
Gold is a commodity that has historically backed many of the world's currencies, in particular the US dollar under the gold standard, until it was abandoned in 1971. Gold ingots are any form of pure or nearly pure gold that has been certified for its weight and purity. Over the past few years, many new investment trackers and services have emerged that offer several ways to track your investments. Mutual funds and gold ETFs are a good choice for beginning investors because of their low cost and low minimum investment requirements. Physical gold for investments can be purchased in the form of ingots or coins (British Sovereigns, African Krugerrands, etc.). Old and rare gold coins have what is known as numismatic or “collector's” value above and beyond the underlying value of gold. Jewels are not usually considered a real investment due to the large margin between their price and their value in gold.
However, futures are still the cheapest way (fees plus interest expenses) to buy or sell gold when investing large sums. Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds that track the price of gold offer low-cost exposure with low minimum investments. The largest gold mining companies have extensive global operations; therefore, business factors common to many other large companies influence the success of such an investment. Larger investors looking for direct exposure may choose to invest in gold ingots, but this involves paying a premium and storage costs. With few exceptions, only bullion, futures, and a handful of specialized funds offer a direct investment opportunity in gold. Given the low correlation of gold with other types of investment assets, investing in the precious metal has traditionally been considered a hedge against economic recessions.
Unlike stocks, gold doesn't generate revenue (unless you invest indirectly through shares of a mining company). An alternative to buying gold bullion directly is to invest in one of the gold-based exchange traded funds (ETFs). Investing in gold mining companies may offer another form of exposure to the metal, but these stocks don't always follow gold's long-term performance very closely.
