Silver and industrial demand - what are we thinking long-term?
- •Been noticing a lot of talk lately about the industrial demand for silver and how it's gonna impact prices.
- •As someone who's had a decent chunk of his IRA in physical silver for a good few years now (mainly coins, some bars), this really hits close to home.
- •The whole solar panel boom and EV growth makes sense on paper for increased demand, but how much of that is already baked into current pricing?
Been noticing a lot of talk lately about the industrial demand for silver and how it's gonna impact prices. As someone who's had a decent chunk of his IRA in physical silver for a good few years now (mainly coins, some bars), this really hits close to home. I'm looking at my portfolio—currently around the $750k mark, with about 15% of that in precious metals—and just trying to gauge what folks here are expecting. The whole solar panel boom and EV growth makes sense on paper for increased demand, but how much of that is already baked into current pricing?
I've been in the dairy business my whole life here in Wisconsin, seen commodity markets swing a lot, but silver feels a bit different than milk futures, obviously. With all these new factories coming online, and China gobbling up everything, it just feels like the supply side is going to get squeezed pretty hard. My big question is, if we do see a continued surge in industrial use, are we talking about a slow, steady climb or could we see some really sharp price increases in the next 5-10 years? I'm not looking for a get-rich-quick scheme, just trying to plan for retirement, ya know?
My wife keeps asking if we should be rebalancing given the recent run-up in some of our other assets, but my gut says to hold on to the silver. I bought a lot of it when it was quite a bit lower, and it’s been a good diversifier. Anyone here have projections on when we might see a real crunch, or if the mining industry can keep up? Are there any specific industrial sectors we should be paying closer attention to beyond the usual suspects like tech and green energy?