.png)
It’s a known fact that gold is the only commodity traded all over the world and doesn’t lose value as easily as other investment products and hence provides guaranteed returns in the long run.
I’m a curious little diva and decided to find out a bit more about how one goes about determining the price of gold; and its not as straight forward as it seems – especially for a newbie !
Gold is measured by troy weight and grams; with 24 carats being pure gold. The gold price or spot gold price is actually determined twice a day in 
The first fixing took place on 12 September 1919 amongst the five principal gold bullion traders and refiners of the day: N M Rothschild & Sons, Mocatta & Goldsmid, Pixley & Abell, Samuel Montagu & Co. and Sharps Wilkins.
The gold spot or the "spot price" of gold is the amount you would pay to obtain gold at that particular period in time i.e. the cash price you are willing to pay for gold. Somewhat paradoxically, the spot price of gold is determined by how much people are willing to pay for gold in the future. (hey I never said it would make sense if you weren’t in the market!)
To determine the best gold prices – one must compare the difference between the ‘bid’ and the ‘ask’ price quoted by different dealers. In layman's terms one must find out how much a dealer will pay for your gold and how much they will sell it to you for. The dealer that quotes the lowest spread between the bid and the ask will most likely give the best price when you actually make a trade.
This post was an educational journey for me … over the last few years I have been active in the stock and mutual fund market; and with the current economy, it only seems logical to start investing in a commodity as solid as gold.
If you have any tips about gold investments, please share them with us :)
