just made first ever purchase!!..and..does anyone keep a tally/chart?

today i just made my first step into investing/owning PM's!.. I wanted a good start so i ordered 5-2011 ASE coins (1oz). I am REALLY excited

now, I dont know if it is OCD or what but i like to keep a notebook and write down notes..

for example i was wondering if other people do this as well. like keep a list of what you purchase and the cost. so you know how much you spent/made profit or what your collection changed in value?

I am going to start doing so but i was wondering if it is a good idea, or a waste of time

 

I keep a record...most people do.

You can use Excel or there's an app floating on here somewhere, I believe it's written in Delphi.

Definitely a good idea I believe, otherwise how are you going to know how big your stack is? Gets a bit hard to count once you get over 200oz.

 

I don't keep notes but maybe i should, not a bad idea.
I go through my stack here and there, and a few times i've said to myself "I could've sworn i had this and that".. some coins gone for which i can't remember selling, either my memory is fading or someone swiping from my stash.
Congrats on the purchase, hopefully you have the strength to control the addiction more than me

 

I've also made my first purchases here over the last day or so (Delivery expected tomorrow - drool!)

I've made up an excel spreadsheet showing spot, price I paid per oz, date of purchase, that type of thing, with a summary calculation right near the top to keep it easy.

I'm afraid I'm like you Lovingthe Silver. Totally addicted. Just can't do without a daily "fix". Ah, silver. So shiny .....

 

doing it on excel is a good idea, what type of things does your list have?. like what does it look like?..the item..and the price paid?

yes i hate that feeling, thats why i hope not to encounter it..especially with things that are of value

and i dont know if i can resist. i just made a first purchase and am already encouraging my next haha

 

My sheet is quite extensive, you may or may not need all the columns.

1st Row on my excel has live prices of Ag, Au, USD Index, AUD/USD, AUD/HKD, AUD/JPY. It is fixed to the top.

After that for each row I put in what I bought. My columns across the top are:

* Item
* Quantity
* Purity (Sterling or 999 or 99999)
* Year
* Au/Ag (Metal type)
* Weight each
* Total Oz Involved
* Spot (AUD)
* Spot (USD)
* AUD/USD
* Mintage
* Company/Mint
* Purchase date
* Paid (AUD/oz)
* % over spot
* Shipping costs
* Total Cost
* Seller

I'm actually not OCD or organized at all...except when it comes to stacking I keep a very detailed record lol.

 

thank you VERY much, this is a good set of guidelines to help set a base..really appreciate it

i can tell i am still a noob when it comes to this because i still dont know what some of those mean. butt i am slowly learning



and i am kindof with you on the OCD..like i have the mindset of someone with OCD..but actually physically doing it. can change things..but with things like this i am very anal and try to be pefect

 

The post for an iphone app and a kitco taskbar app is in this forum under "iPhone app". Thread started back in Dec 2010 by zygote

 

Similar to fishball I keep record of every purchase/sale/swap in excel - I have a record of each transaction and at the end a summary by type (eg 1oz Kook x #, 2oz Kook x #, ... pre dec shillings pre 46 x #, pre dec shillings post 46 x #, ... 1966 50c x Z#, etc)

My column headings across the top of my sheet:

No (bought how many)
Item
Year
Purchased (date)
Unit ASW (oz)
Unit ASW (gm)
Total ASW (oz)
Spot USD/oz (used if I buy in USD)
AUD:USD
Spot AUD/oz
Cost USD (used if I buy in USD)
Cost AUD
P&H/FX/etc
Nett Cost AUD
% over Spot
Current Value at Spot
Note (who bought/swapped etc from, any notes about the item eg in case, etc)

In addition, to help me out I have the common conversion amounts - eg how many grams in troy ounce, toz in Kg, ASW for all predecs and 66 etc, and current spot price.

Also have obviously total holdings in oz and kg, total value at spot (and spot plus 5% and spot plus 10% ) , and average cost per oz

Since most of my stack is AU it's set up for that and my Ag is just tacked on - as I grow that I'll probably set up it's own page and move the summaries to their own page also.

Edited to add:
Just realised I also have provision for sales which I've only used a few times and which includes:
Sold date
Price
P & H
Sale Spot
% Over Spot
Nett Sale
Gain (Loss)

...

Keep stackin'

PS Congrats on the first purchase - what did you get?

 

I've started collecting PM few months ago and have been using a spreadsheet to keep track on what what I've bought, details of the spreadsheet very similar to mentioned above, I also have the following:
- Purchase price
- Retail price
- Average $ per Oz - total $ spent/OZ
- Profit/Loss' if I sold anything

 

This one? http://forums.silverstackers.com/topic-8488-silver-spreadsheet-available-here.html

@Kevin - If you do a search in forums for "excel" you'll find a few more threads with many useful hints and tips ...

 

Excel seems to be the way to go. Just make sure you know the conversions between ounces, grams and troy ounces otherwise your sums go crazy.

I have a little calculation which works out the percentage profit or loss if I were to sell it at the current spot price. Completely pointless because; one I would have to sell my silver (never gonna happen), two I would have to get spot price and three no premiums would be taken into account. However it was good to see a row of red figures (negative gains I like to think of them as) turn green as the spot price rose.

I also have an end target in mind (which to the disgust of many stackers is in a dollar amount) it is a chinese Junk. I have a calculation which looks at the amount of silver I have and calculates what the spot price needs to be before I can afford my junk, currently around $160/troy ounce. As I add more to the stack the necessary spot price drops. it also tells me how many more ounces I need to buy at the current spot price to make up the shortfall. A lot of nonsense but the spreadsheets tend to grow as I get bored of looking at the same figures over and over again.

 

How do you guys handle sold items? I see only a purchase date column in the examples so far. The reason I ask is because I have a summary of my total ounces as well which takes in account all purchases and sales but my current solution for recording the sales part is a bit clunky. I guess this also applies to swaps and how to handle these kind of transactions.

 

I have Sale date and Sold to: as well.

As well as Profit, Profit %, Postage.

I split up bulk buys into different rows now. For example if I bought 50 ASEs I have 50 rows. This makes it MUCH easier when I do swaps and sales. Very rarely do you move the whole blob.

For swaps I just calculate my COST PRICE of MY items and use that as the COST PRICE of the TARGET items. Postage is indepdent in a new column. Total cost is a sum of both.

For example if I bought 4 ASEs at $160.

I decided to swap for a 1/10 Roo and postage costs me $5.

My 'profit' on the 4 ASEs would be $0 and for my 1/10 Roo the cost would be $160, postage $5, total cost $165.

 

@Ouch - I just edited my post to include sale details that I keep - I have the purchase side as the main screen and the columns I have to scroll out for and since I rarely sell anything outright (usually I swap) the sale hardly comes into play.

BTW when I do a swap I just take the sale at spot and the buy at spot, create a negative entry so to speak for the stuff swapped out (this way my summary totals are correct) and a new entry for the stuff acquired. The stuff gone then gets moved to the top of the scheet where they sit in hidden rows - that way when I look at my sheet I only see what I own right now, but still have full records of everything.

 

You guys have lots and lots of information in your spreadsheets :lol:

Item
Date
#/Ounces
$/oz
$/Total

Those are my columns.
And have a quick formula setup so I can just input the total and the number of ounces I bought and it fills out the $/oz column for me.

 

I used to have very little as well but then it got boring staring at the same data every single day.

Decided to add a lot more in so I could generate some basic reporting as well as stats.

Some stats I pull up include:

* Cost per oz
* Cost per oz (without shipping)
* Average spot rate of purchases
* Average premium
* Total value of stack @ spot
* Cost of goods sold
* Cost of goods swapped
* Total cost
* Profit
* % Profit
* Average profit per day
* Profit/cost/goods sold in current month
* ^ in past 7 days
* Total postage costs
* Total reward points on my credit card from postage/buys

Anything else you guys can think of? lol

 

You forgot the most important: total ounces.

 

Why does no one just keep a cost average across the board ? As example -

10 x 2009 1oz Kooks $38ea
50 x 2005 1oz ASE $25ea
20 x 2011 Koalas $50ea

Total 80oz average cost = $32.87 per oz

So all you need is one entry for 1oz Bullion coins ? and you just keep updating the numbers.

 

Have it on the sheet, forgot to mention it thought it was obvious

I do, but it's for fun only. My cost average is massively high because I have a lot of random numismatic stuff like proof lunars etc.

Also, bit hard to do a stock take if you just average everything.

If you needed to find out how many kooks from 2007 you have, you'd have to count manually.