My Silver Stacking Journey and Strategy (and a quick question for the Chicago crew)

• •Thought I'd share a bit about my silver journey, see what others are doing.
• •I'm a construction guy here in Chicago, and I've always believed in things you can touch and hold.
• •Right now, probably about 15% of my 350k is in physical silver — mostly coins and bars stored in a reputable depository.

Thought I'd share a bit about my silver journey, see what others are doing. I'm a construction guy here in Chicago, and I've always believed in things you can touch and hold. Started out with a 401k like everyone else, but a few years back, after seeing some of the volatility in the market, I opened a self-directed IRA and started moving a chunk of my portfolio into precious metals. Right now, probably about 15% of my 350k is in physical silver — mostly coins and bars stored in a reputable depository. My goal is to eventually hit 20-25% in metals, with gold making up the majority of that, but for now, silver felt like a more accessible entry point and I like the industrial demand aspect too.

My strategy isn't super complicated: I stack consistently. Every month, I allocate a certain amount, usually around $1,500-$2,000, and just buy more. I'm not trying to time the market; I just want to accumulate as much as I can at a reasonable average price. I look for recognized mints and try to stick with reputable dealers. The idea is long-term wealth preservation and a hedge against inflation. This isn't about getting rich quick for me; it's about not getting poor slowly with fiat currency.

It’s funny, my buddies sometimes give me crap, asking why I’m not all in on tech stocks or crypto. But honestly, watching the news lately, and seeing how quickly things can shift, makes me feel pretty good about having a tangible asset. I was actually debating how much more exposure I wanted to get into silver versus just going straight for gold, and stumbled onto "Silver vs Stocks" at https://silvervsstocks.goldirablueprint.com/?period=10Y. It was interesting to compare the performance over the last 10 years, really helped put things into perspective for me.

So, for anyone else in precious metals, especially those of you in the Gold IRA space, how do you decide on your silver vs. gold allocation? Are you buying primarily for wealth preservation, or are you looking for more growth potential? And for my fellow Chicagoans, any local specific depository recommendations you've had good experiences with for IRA metals?