Keeping Track

[DrDave]

I have a newbie question, so please excuse my ignorance😕

Does anybody/everybody keep track of their stack? I'm sure that most know whats in the stack, but do you keep tabs on its value? And if you do how do you calculate it?

If i base it on spot value then i'm well down on the deal, or do you take an average resale value, or what you paid etc etc

Thanks for any advice 

DD

[Kussilver]

I’m sure everyone is different but personally I keep a record of all purchases. Including date of purchase, total price paid ( including P&P ). I then have running totals for average cost per t/oz in Ag and average cost per grams in Au. 
I am a little OCD thought 😂🤣. It’s good to know exactly where you are in terms of overall cost  

Hope this helps. 

[BackyardBullion]

I do it to a very precise level of record keeping for my gold stack and my book keeping for my poured silver business. But I have to say for my silver stack I just don't bother any more.

Excell spreadsheet for gold stack and proper book keeping software for the business does the job perfectly!

 

[DrDave]

4 minutes ago, Kussilver said:

I’m sure everyone is different but personally I keep a record of all purchases. Including date of purchase, total price paid ( including P&P ). I then have running totals for average cost per t/oz in Ag and average cost per grams in Au. 
I am a little OCD thought 😂🤣. It’s good to know exactly where you are in terms of overall cost  

Hope this helps. 

I've done the same so far, but would you adjust it in 5 years, 10 years, etc time.

And where in Essex are you?

[DrDave]

2 minutes ago, BackyardBullion said:

I do it to a very precise level of record keeping for my gold stack and my book keeping for my poured silver business. But I have to say for my silver stack I just don't bother any more.

Excell spreadsheet for gold stack and proper book keeping software for the business does the job perfectly!

 

Sure. As a business you'd obviusly need to. 

The only thing that confuses me, is that our assets would change in value each year (hopefully for the better)

I guess i'll settle on a way that suits me at some point

Thanks for the reply

 

[Kussilver]

1 hour ago, DrDave said:

I've done the same so far, but would you adjust it in 5 years, 10 years, etc time.

And where in Essex are you?

Not sure what you mean adjust it ? It is what it is, total cost over time. 
South Essex area. And you ?

[DrDave]

8 minutes ago, Kussilver said:

Not sure what you mean adjust it ? It is what it is, total cost over time. 
South Essex area. And you ?

so if i bought a 100g bar today for £100, in 5 years time itd hopefully have a higher value. So would you adjust yoopinion of what your stack is worth?

(its not really important i guess, but i'm just trying to get me head around it)

Im in Southend area

[BullionBuyerUK]

4 minutes ago, DrDave said:

so if i bought a 100g bar today for £100, in 5 years time itd hopefully have a higher value. So would you adjust yoopinion of what your stack is worth?

(its not really important i guess, but i'm just trying to get me head around it)

Im in Southend area

If you use Google sheets or the latest version of Microsoft Excel, then there is a formula you can enter where it will keep track of the spot price and regularly update the value of your coins/stack 

[Kussilver]

I hope the price is up in 5 years😁. I have been at this stacking hobby 4 years now. When I started I think silver was around £14. I paid to much for probably first 20-30 ozs, but it’s all a learning curve. Once I found this forum costs came down, especially when we could buy from EU. 

As for stacks worth. It depends when you sell of course, and who you sell to. Private sales you will obviously get more but that takes time. Sell on one specific day to a dealer and it will just depend on spot. 
 

Southend not far from me 

[DrDave]

16 minutes ago, BullionBuyerUK said:

If you use Google sheets or the latest version of Microsoft Excel, then there is a formula you can enter where it will keep track of the spot price and regularly update the value of your coins/stack 

Really? Now thats interesteing

Thank you

[DrDave]

11 minutes ago, Kussilver said:

I hope the price is up in 5 years😁. I have been at this stacking hobby 4 years now. When I started I think silver was around £14. I paid to much for probably first 20-30 ozs, but it’s all a learning curve. Once I found this forum costs came down, especially when we could buy from EU. 

As for stacks worth. It depends when you sell of course, and who you sell to. Private sales you will obviously get more but that takes time. Sell on one specific day to a dealer and it will just depend on spot. 
 

Southend not far from me 

Its a bit of a conundrum. I'm sure i'll settle on system one day. I think what i'm really looking for is a way of letting the family know what the stack could realise if they need to sell it on.

Having said that, they don't know real value of my camera kit or guitars.................. I hope they don't sell them for what i told them i paid!! 😜

[Kussilver]

That is something to think about. The wife probably wouldn’t know where to start with it, I should make some detailed instructions for the just in case scenario. Something to ponder. 

[LemmyMcGregor]

Excel.

There are some online trackers, but many don't like the idea of having online information regarding your personal possessions, me being one of them.

For each coin I keep track of purchase price, purchase metal value and premium, all adds to a total purchase price and metal value, I copy to a new column every month and add the new values, formulas tell me the totals and if the value is up or down.

I also print and file every receipt on which I add the spot price for the day and premium I was charged.

[DrDave]

6 minutes ago, LemmyMcGregor said:

Excel.

There are some online trackers, but many don't like the idea of having online information regarding your personal possessions, me being one of them.

For each coin I keep track of purchase price, purchase metal value and premium, all adds to a total purchase price and metal value, I copy to a new column every month and add the new values, formulas tell me the totals and if the value is up or down.

I also print and file every receipt on which I add the spot price for the day and premium I was charged.

Thats great. Thank you.

Do you assume that the premium remains the same?

 

[LemmyMcGregor]

17 minutes ago, DrDave said:

Thats great. Thank you.

Do you assume that the premium remains the same?

 

No, I just calculate the premium once I purchase, I don't see the point in calculating it again, all I care for is the updated value of the metal.

Not a perfect method, it's just to have a general idea.

[Booky586]

Have a look here, there's plenty of spreadsheets to download and advice on just what you're looking for:

https://www.thesilverforum.com/topic/30080-excel-spreadsheets-to-track-your-inventory/#comment-344911

[Scootermuppet]

2 hours ago, BullionBuyerUK said:

If you use Google sheets or the latest version of Microsoft Excel, then there is a formula you can enter where it will keep track of the spot price and regularly update the value of your coins/stack 

There is indeed...

Here's the Formulas I use:

The pull-in for the Gold price :

=Index(ImportHTML("https://www.gold.co.uk","table",1),2,2) - just drop it in a cell.
 

Scrapes it from Gold.co.uk Table Cell - the above is per oz, and here's the per gram version:
 

=Index(ImportHTML("https://www.gold.co.uk","table",1),2,3)

 

You can then use in your spreadsheet to calculate intrinsic values for your coins, screenshot of mine when I opened the file just... (it only loads when you open the spreadsheet though, doesn't keep refreshing the vale, but good enough for my purposes).
 

I also have set up a way of tagging what I have in the safe deposit box, and it pulls the values and adds them up for a total amount in the box 👍

Bob

Edited July 31, 2022 by Scootermuppet
spellings

[Scootermuppet]

4 hours ago, DrDave said:

<snip>... but do you keep tabs on its value? And if you do how do you calculate it?

If i base it on spot value then i'm well down on the deal, or do you take an average resale value, or what you paid etc etc

 

I record total price including VAT & Post, total price excluding VAT & post, per item value if more than one item bought and an estimated sale value (usually based on whatever they are going for on eBay)

This means I can see what I paid & how much I could potentially sell for at the best price - this, along with the intrinsic value calculation means I can see at a glance how low I can go if I need to move on quickly, via the Forum or even a dealer.

[Happypanda88]

Better to keep all your purchases in a spreadsheet like Excel. In years to come you can refer back to it without having to look for receipts or rely on memory. Particularly if you're thinking of stacking long term.

The basic headers on my spreadsheet are:  Date of Purchase, Description of item, Price paid(incl. postage), Seller

 

[cravethatcoin]

I also use a spreadsheet. Nice and simple, see attached for a example of my spreadsheet (needless to say good times in 2016).

It's nice to look back on old purchases and see how they have performed.

 

[Happypanda88]

9 minutes ago, cravethatcoin said:

I also use a spreadsheet. Nice and simple, see attached for a example of my spreadsheet (needless to say good times in 2016).

It's nice to look back on old purchases and see how they have performed.

 

 

Far better in 2015 LOL !! 😎 

[cravethatcoin]

6 minutes ago, Happypanda88 said:

 

Far better in 2015 LOL !! 😎 

Indeed it was! I am not complaining though. 50% tax free return in 6 years based on spot alone. Adding premium much higher. Also sitting on silver Birtannians I purchased at £16 each.

[SidS]

I use Excel for all.

For my numismatic holdings - I record the purchase price/date and who from - plus an average market value, rounded down.

For my spoons/forks/other sterling silver antiques - I generally only put in hallmark info, purity and weight in Troy ounces for each entry.

For my junk silver coin holdings, for the UK I have a database of each monarch, containing each denomination by date and I enter them as I acquire them. The tables then add up by face value and silver content and I know how much of each date, type and denomination I've got for each monarch.

Other countries it's just date and denomination which is entered and it keeps a track record by face value of what I've got.

[DrDave]

1 minute ago, SidS said:

I use Excel for all.

For my numismatic holdings - I record the purchase price/date and who from - plus an average market value, rounded down.

For my spoons/forks/other sterling silver antiques - I generally only put in hallmark info, purity and weight in Troy ounces for each entry.

For my junk silver coin holdings, for the UK I have a database of each monarch, containing each denomination by date and I enter them as I acquire them. The tables then add up by face value and silver content and I know how much of each date, type and denomination I've got for each monarch.

Other countries it's just date and denomination which is entered and it keeps a track record by face value of what I've got.

Thats great, thank you.

I guess everybody waants something different from a spreadsheet.

I've settled on  a formula where i put in the purchase price (for bullion coin), it then strips out the spot price on the day of purchase and shows the premium. Then as the spot price changes, it recalculates the aprox value assuming that the premium would remain the same. 

But at the end of the day, its all just numbers until its sold

[SidS]

27 minutes ago, DrDave said:

Thats great, thank you.

I guess everybody waants something different from a spreadsheet.

Totally. If I went back into gold, I'd certainly keep a record of price paid and then current market value to know if I was in profit or not, which is equally important for my numismatic.

For the junk silver, I don't keep tabs on what I've paid really. I know a lot of people on here do 'cost adjusting' to see whether they're in profit or not. For my junk holdings however (which are mostly numismatic as well) the spot price is irrelevant due to the numismatic value being much higher - never managed to get a William IV half crown in VF for spot price yet! 😁

So what I do, is do what the US government do, I keep my holdings value against a 'book price' - it doesn't matter whether I purchased the silver 20 years ago at $5 Oz or yesterday at a premium where it might be closer to $40 per ounce when numismatic value and postage has been added on.  My book value is $12 per ounce and all holdings are calculated on that. I expect to be underwater, but I'm not selling a scrap of it this side of 2052, so I'm in for the long, long haul. It's a little pension pot. It may or may not go up in value, but if it wasn't invested in that and remained as fiat, I would have spent it all.

The numismatic market has done really well over the past decade. Most of my pre-1816 silver I'm extremely underwater on when it comes to pure melt value, but on numismatic value, I've seen about a 33% to 50% profit margin based on what I see for sale on eBay. So I'm totally in the numismatic game. I don't touch bullion. - the silver market is far too manipulated to make it worth the risk.

Plus I'm trying to get a full date run in circulated grades of everything struck in silver from 1816-1946 - excluding proofs.

Edited August 2, 2022 by SidS