Don't panic when buying gold! Keeping a steady mindset is more reliable than 'buying the dip and selling at the top'
Recently, I've been asked a lot: "With gold prices dropping so sharply, should I increase my position?" "Gold prices have risen again, should I sell quickly to lock in profits?"
To be honest, every time I see these questions, I want to advise everyone not to rush into action, but to first check their own mindset—are you buying gold to make quick money, or to provide a 'safety cushion' for your family's assets?
For example, if you panic every time the gold price drops, fearing that you will lose more, and you rush to cut losses, you might find that as soon as you sell, the price goes back up; or you see others making money by buying gold, and you jump in following the trend, only to buy at a high and end up stuck at the peak. Some friends invest short-term idle money into gold, and if there’s a slight fluctuation, they can’t sleep, constantly refreshing the market software, only to either get shaken out by small fluctuations or can't handle the pressure and make erratic trades.
In fact, gold is not a good target for short-term speculation. Its core function is to hedge against risk—when the stock market falls, exchange rates fluctuate, or inflation rises, gold can often hold its ground. Therefore, buying gold is more suitable with a mindset of using 'idle money + long-term holding'.
Here are a few tips for maintaining a steady mindset:
1. Use money that 'doesn't affect your life': Don't use next month's mortgage or your child's tuition to speculate in gold. Investing with idle money allows you to remain calm through fluctuations.
2. Don't watch the market every day: It’s normal for gold prices to rise and fall in the short term. Checking every day will only increase anxiety. You can set a schedule, like checking the market once a week, and do whatever else in the meantime.
3. Don’t aim to 'buy at the lowest and sell at the highest': That’s something only deities can achieve! For us ordinary people, as long as you buy within a relatively reasonable range, achieve your expected returns (for example, 10%-20%), or feel that market risks have increased, you can take profits on a portion and hold the rest as ballast.
4. Don’t follow the crowd or listen to rumors: There are always various 'insider news' claiming gold prices will rise to a certain level or drop to another. Don’t believe it! Understand the core logic behind gold price fluctuations—for example, Federal Reserve interest rate hikes or cuts, geopolitical issues, and inflation data—are much more reliable than listening to others' nonsense.
Remember, when your mindset for investing in gold is stable, you've already won more than half the battle.
