Lets say I have enough SC to get gold but don't have enough eligible sectors. Does that mean that I will get gold as soon as I get those sectors and can kind of choose when my year of gold starts?
The scenario is like that - if I got 500SC that will expire in a year and I wait for say 11 months before I fly to get missing eligible sectors, will my gold renew date be 11 months + one year from today?
Your review date will be 12 months from the date you get Gold, so if you gain Gold on the 1st December 2024, make sure you have enough status to retain Gold (400) and sectors, on the 1st of December 2025 (12 months later) or you will drop to Silver.
Also note, no sectors are earnt on Lite fares.
You mentioned you have 500 status credits currently, therefore, you will be awarded Gold as soon as you meet the sector requirement, BUT, only if you still have all of those 500+ status credits, as some of them may expire before then, which brings me to my next part.
Keep in mind each of your status credits earnt has its own expiry date, 12 months from the date you earnt each of them. For example, if you gained 20 status credits on the 1st Sep last year (2023) those 20 status credits will drop from your total status credits balance on the 1st September this year.
I say that as I assume you didn't earn all of those 500 status credits at the same time (unless you flew business class with family pooling on double status credits promo).