Gold, lots of spice and promises to pay - a good sign going forward! (10)

I believe the answer is:

auspicious

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'a good sign going forward' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'gold lots of spice and promises to pay' is the wordplay.
'gold' becomes 'Au' (Au is the chemical symbol for gold).
'lots of' means to remove the last letter (the majority of the word).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'promises to pay' becomes 'IOU's' (promises to pay a debt).
'spice' with its final letter removed is 'spic'.
'au'+'spic'+'ious'='AUSPICIOUS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for auspicious that I've seen before include "Favourable" , "Rosy" , "Promising" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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