Gold investments come with many benefits. They can serve as a hedge against inflation, offset risk in your portfolio and offer a solid way to protect your wealth for the long haul. And in recent years, many consumers have bought in.
That high demand has pushed the price of gold upward, with the average price per ounce reaching record highs several times just this year alone. Depending on economic conditions, the price of gold could keep rising as we get into 2025.
What does that mean if you already hold gold in your portfolio? Depending on your goals, it could be a good time to cash in and net some profits. For others, expanding your gold investments may be a better idea. Here’s how experts say you can decide.
Who should sell their gold right now
If you’ve had your gold investments for a while, they’re likely worth a lot more today than when you bought them. So, if you’re in need of cash or would otherwise need to borrow money to cover an upcoming expense, selling some or all of those assets now — while prices are rising — might be the move to make.
“If you are looking to lock in your profits on gold, then now may be a good time,” says Eric Elkins, CEO of financial consulting firm Double E. “Thus far in 2024 gold is up 29%.”
Just be aware that if you plan to buy back into gold at a later date, you could eat into those profits if the pricing is not right.
“If you wanted to sell today and wait until the price drops to buy back in, you can do that,” Elkin says. “However, you run the risk of the price of gold increasing after you sell and losing potential gains.”
Another scenario in which you might want to consider selling your gold? If its share of your portfolio has grown too much.
Generally speaking, experts recommend allocating no more than 5% to 10% of your total portfolio to gold. With the recent run-up in prices, assets that originally made up only 5% of your portfolio could easily well exceed that today.
“If the gold position has outgrown its allocation as part of your overall portfolio, then maybe it’s time to rebalance and get gold back to the original position,” says Christopher Mediate, president of Mediate Financial. “This would take some profits off the table and allocate the profit to another asset class that has underperformed — allowing you to buy that position low.”
Who should invest more in gold
Investing more into gold is a good idea if you’re looking for a long-term investment.
“It’s very hard to predict the best time to buy gold,” Elkins says. “However, if you plan on holding your gold for the long term, then generally it never hurts to get started today… At the end of the day, you are buying a secure asset class that typically won’t have dramatic fluctuations in volatile markets, and it’s a great hedge in your investment portfolio to limit risk if we have domestic or global economic downturns or market returns.”
Elkins recommends taking a dollar-cost averaging approach, which has you invest a set amount into an asset rather than paying attention to that asset’s price at the time.
“For example, if I had $1,000 to invest in gold, I would take $100 and invest that amount into gold every week until I hit my $1,000 total investment,” Elkins says. “This allows you to invest slowly and minimize the risk of the price of gold plummeting after your initial investment.”
You can also consider buying more gold if you want to safeguard your money against inflation. While inflation has decreased in recent months, it’s still above 2%, meaning the cost of goods and services has increased over the last year.
“The biggest benefit to investing in gold, of course, is to hedge against inflation,” says Nick Fulton, managing partner of USA Pawn Stores of Mississippi and chairman of the Mississippi Pawnbrokers Association. “If you invested in an ounce of gold on October 1, 2023, the value was $1,848 an ounce. A year later it’s $2,635. Now picture in your hand $1,848 in cash that you hung onto for a year. What does it look like today with groceries, the rise in the cost of living and all other expenses?”
The bottom line
If you do opt to purchase more gold, there are many ways to go about it. You can buy gold bars and coins, open a gold IRA, purchase gold stocks or ETFs, and more.
Get in touch with a financial or investment advisor if you need help choosing the right investments for your portfolio.
