Palladium for inflation protection? Anyone else diversifying beyond gold?

• •With inflation feeling a lot stickier than the Fed wants us to believe, I’m getting a bit antsy.
• •My portfolio’s sitting around $350k right now, and a decent chunk of that is in precious metals for this exact kind of economic uncertainty.
• •I started my Gold IRA about five years ago, right after getting tenure here at VCU.

Been doing a deep dive into inflation protection strategies lately, and while gold has always been my go-to (and primary holding in my Gold IRA), I'm curious if anyone here has ventured into Palladium for the same reasons? With inflation feeling a lot stickier than the Fed wants us to believe, I’m getting a bit antsy. My portfolio’s sitting around $350k right now, and a decent chunk of that is in precious metals for this exact kind of economic uncertainty.

I started my Gold IRA about five years ago, right after getting tenure here at VCU. Based on my research back then, the historical data on gold's performance during inflationary periods was just overwhelming. It felt like a no-brainer for long-term stability. Now, I’m looking at the premiums and availability for palladium, and it seems like an interesting play. My initial thought is to carve out maybe 5-10% of my precious metals allocation for palladium, just to add another layer of diversification. I'm based in Richmond, VA, and I've been working with a local custodian, but they mostly focus on gold and silver. I’d probably need to find a new one if I seriously pursue this.

My concern is liquidity and the industrial demand factor for palladium. While gold has that universal store-of-value appeal, palladium's price is much more tied to the automotive industry. What happens if there's a big shift away from internal combustion engines faster than anticipated, or if global manufacturing slows significantly? That's the research I'm currently wrestling with. Is the inflation hedge benefit strong enough to outweigh that potential volatility?

Has anyone here diversified their precious metals IRA into palladium or other platinum group metals for inflation protection? What are your experiences? Did you see the kind of uncorrelated returns you were hoping for during market downturns or inflationary spikes? And critically, what custodians did you use that handled palladium IRAs smoothly? Any insights from folks with similar portfolios would be hugely appreciated. I'm trying to make a data-driven decision here, not just jump on a speculative trend.