Decision time?

My gold investing hasn't gone too well so far!

I think I need to remind myself why I have been buying the stuff. Either my reasoning will still feel valid and stop that dull pain I get when I remember I own this plummeting-priced asset... or I it will appear wrong-headed and I will need to re-evaluate what I am doing.

One of my reasons for buying gold was the possibility that it could rise in value if my income and my home fall in value. An attempt, I suppose, to turn my job, home and investments into an 'absolute return' fund - which sounds horrible and ambitious at the same time.

Sebastian Lyon on gold and BBC on the Fed

Personal Assets Trust: http://www.investegate.co.uk/personal-assets-tst---pnl-/rns/half-yearly-report/201311211642576716T/

"Recent weakness in the price of gold has been unwelcome, but just because an insurance policy does not pay out for one year in thirteen it does not mean we should not hold it. The opportunity cost of holding gold is now low. Negative real interest rates are here to stay. Beggar-my-neighbour policies, reminiscent of the 1930s, instigated by central banks to keep their currencies competitive will lead to an on-going debasement of paper currencies. The rigging of financial markets by central banks will not end well. Gold, therefore, is not a short term trade but long term portfolio insurance."

I don't know if I should be buying something.

Just listening to this too:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/  Simon Jack

Response to Goldman Sachs slamdunk

I read this today and thought I'd keep a link for future reference: http://seekingalpha.com/article/1735872-which-side-of-goldman-sachs-is-right-about-gold?source=email_rt_mc_focus_0

PNL Personal Assets Trust - some guidance on why I own gold

There were two views on the gold price dropping down today (PHGP down 2.5%):

- on the one hand the gold bugs point to a 'paper-based' assault on the gold price last night: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-09-12/vicious-gold-slamdown-breaks-gold-market-20-seconds?source=email_rt_mc_body&app=n

- on the other hand the gold doubters point to the increasing likelihood of the Federal Reserve tapering off its quantitative easing. In this BullionVault piece analysts suspect more price falls with little chance of this being offset by Indian Jewellery buying or inflation picking up
 https://goldnews.bullionvault.com/gold-price-091220131

Sebastian Lyon at Personal Assets Trust (PNL) said in an interim management statement (August 16):

BlackRock Gold and General 6% spread

According to Hargreaves Lansdown the bid offer spread on BlackRock Gold and General fund was 858.10p to buy, 810.00p to sell - that's a spread of nearly 6 per cent - I'm not sure what it usually is.

Cash in waiting

I put more money in my account this morning. But I am now down about £2,000.

I now want to make a judgement about buying more gold. I think I'm clear about why I own it but it's not a conviction and I have to remind myself why I'm doing it otherwise I get confused.

Indian gold tax effects

Hebba Investments writing at Seeking Alpha about India's war on gold and the unintended consequences - a more interesting story than most.

Watch the Rupee strength against the dollar because:

"depending on the amount of gold imported through unofficial channels, this policy may not even solve the CAD (current account deficit) problems experienced by the government because rupees will still be exchanged for other currencies to buy gold - it just will not be registered with government officials. One of the things investors should do is to keep an eye on the rupee-dollar exchange rate, if it continues to weaken that may be a sign that government policies are not working and large amounts of gold are still entering India through illegal imports.

In the meantime I haven't made any changes to my portfolio - some of the losses have lessened and I haven't got the money or the will to add any more at the moment.

Gold investment - should my goal posts be moved?

Crumbs! This is what my gold investment portfolio looks like this morning.

I knew it would be bad and I'm not sure if this is worse than I expected.

It's not a reassuring signal to myself that I know what I'm doing. Did I buy gold for the right reasons and have they changed?

Buy or sell as gold price plummets?

Can I really make a sensible decision about whether to buy or sell now?

I've got about £1000 standing by but I'm not sure I'm aiming to buy anything yet, or sell anything.... but I might have changed my mind by tomorrow.

 My small portfolio, which now includes one share of Personal Assets Trusts (PNL), looks pretty shredded at the moment.

Portfolio: not much changed

Not much has changed  since a couple of weeks ago - September 18 2012 (Have I made money yet?) - and although my account is up a little, I still haven't properly worked out if I'm up on when I first invested as selling out and buying back in again added some costs!

Odd moves price moves for ETF Securities' PHAU and PHGP gold

It's  been a while since I looked at my tiny portfolio of physical gold ETF shares (PHAU) and BlackRock Gold and  General units.

When I do I usually see the kind of thing described here -  what I've started calling a price anomaly when it probably isn't. Generally, because I've left it so long,  I've forgotten what it was I found out the last time.

Anyway, I'm doing it again but as it's near midnight on Sunday I'm sticking to the basics. 

Have I made money yet?

My Hargreaves Lansdown account only has two holdings: ETF Securities physical gold ETF (PHAU) and BlackRock Gold and General fund.

As far as I can remember this is the first time since I started investing in gold and gold related shares that I have seen it in positive territory:

The BlackRock fund is still down a but I have held it longer than the physical gold ETFS and so it would be misleading to see it as a less successful investment.

Basically I sold all of my PHAU shares back in December 2011 (at a £250 loss) and couldn't make up my mind whether to buy in January and didn't own any again until March when I paid £1066 for 10 shares and  then again on April 4 2012 - 10 shares for £1009 and then another 10 shares for £978 on May 9 2012.  All together  my ETF holding is now up £146 so I haven't regained the original loss.

What I might try and work out is whether I would have lost less if I had simply held on and bought more.

Another odd PHAU price movement

On Wednesday 22 August 2012 the price of PHAU jumped in the morning on one  small trade when markets opened. PHGP the sterling version used by small investors didn't see the same price move.

All quiet at the Gold ETF sand castle this summer holiday?

There may be some calm in the gold markets before a (positive) storm according to people quoted in the Telegraph but summer holidays can be pretty dangerous.  

Another identity crisis at gold ETF Investor - fund or ETF?

This blog has had an identity crisis before.

There was another one last week: why do I invest in a fund rather than an ETF when it comes to gold mining companies? I only asked myself this question after seeing a piece on gold miner ETFs in Moneyweek - the inconsistency hadn't occurred to me before!