Gyroscopic Investing

How would you recommend I value my gold Eagles and Krugerrands that I keep in my Permanent Portfolio?  Do I use the spot price, the bid price or the ask price?  My inclination is to use the bid price, because if I had to sell coins to balance the portfolio, that is the amount I would get for them.

Can you recommend a Web site that easily shows today's price?

Thanks for your great blog.

Multiply the GLD share price by 10.22 and that will give you a very close estimate of what you could sell a one ounce coin for.

This allows for easy maintenance of a PP spreadsheet using readily available price quotes.

Over time, the 10.22 number may need to be revised, but it will be a gradual thing.

rllewis wrote: Can you recommend a Web site that easily shows today's price?

I always go to golddealer.com, click on "Bullion Coins & Bars Buy & Sell Prices" at the top left. And then use the price labeled "Our Buy Price" to value my gold bullion.

I use the London PM Fixing price on the WSJ commodities page.

http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2 ... nav_2_3000

Any of these approaches are probably fine as long as you're consistent about them.

I have been using Kitco's buy price at https://online.kitco.com/selling/index.html.  Is that a mistake?  It's close to the spot price.  Or is it only important that I stay consistent?

For tracking the value of your holdings I don't think it matters too much.  But if you need to sell you obviously want to do so on the most favorable terms.  APMEX has the best buy price that I have found, although I have not actually sold to them, so I can't comment on the experience.  I would not recommend purchasing from them, however, as their prices are on the high side.

I agree with MediumTex on the use something like GLD to track the value of your holdings.