If you're anything like many smart entrepreneurs, then you have—or plan to have—a fraction of your investment tied to gold.

However, your success as a gold investor hinges on your understanding of the art and science of buying and selling the precious metal. More importantly, you have to understand the best times to buy gold, since your buying price partly determines how much profit you'll make after selling.

Having been in the gold trading business for over fifteen years, I've observed that many newbies buy the precious metal impulsively without really figuring out whether the time is right or not. Some make the mistake out of ignorance, while others make it out of emotional indiscipline. Either way, it's a terrible mistake you that you must avoid—by aiming to exchange your cash for gold only at the following times.

1. When gold prices have stopped going down

It goes without saying, but the only way to make money from gold trading is to buy at low prices and sell at high prices. So, any time you observe a downfall in the price of gold, don't be in a hurry to buy; you should rather wait to see the end of that trend.

For example, if the current price is around $1,200 per ounce and it drops to about $1,100; don't rush to buy yet because the price can still go down to probably $1,000 or less. You sure won't forgive yourself if you rush to buy at $1,100 and the price later drops to $900.

So, it’s always better to buy when the price hits the lowest possible value and starts to pick up again. At that point, you're sure you can't get a better price.

2. When the economy is friendly

When the economy of a country or region gets hit by crisis, the currency weakens, and inflation results. This causes a drop in the value of goods and commodities – from foodstuff to clothing to robot vacuums for doing automatic cleaning.

However, gold manages to maintain its value even at such times. So, it would still sell for its pre-crisis price. In fact, this inflation-proof advantage is the major reason why many entrepreneurs invest in gold.

So, you should buy gold when the economy is friendly because at that time, there's no marked margin of relativity between the price of gold and that of other goods and commodities. But because the margin widens during an economic meltdown, selling during that time can fetch nice profits.

3. When there are uncertainties

Smart gold investors always keep an eye out for major news and announcements from governments, stock exchanges, banks, and other institutions that are strongly related with the economy. Most of the time, negative economic and political messages create unrest, which leads to panic in the gold market. Be sure to buy your gold during such times.

Truth is, during periods of economic crisis, other investments such as stocks and property drop in value, while gold and other precious metals increase in value because investors will start turning towards buying precious metals.

Whether you're just starting out as a gold investor or you plan to join the bandwagon sometimes later, you would make the best buying decisions if you aim to invest in gold at the times discussed in this post.