Thinking about rebalancing after seeing gold prices - more silver needed?

Timothy Reed

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Thinking about rebalancing after seeing gold prices - more silver needed?

timothy_reed💎Premium (500k-1m)

about 9 hours ago

Key Takeaways

•Okay, so I've been watching gold prices doing their thing lately, and it's got me thinking about my allocation again.
•I'm sitting on a pretty good chunk of gold in my IRA, probably close to 80% of my precious metals holdings which is somewhere around $150-$200k.
•The rest is in silver.

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Okay, so I've been watching gold prices doing their thing lately, and it's got me thinking about my allocation again. I'm sitting on a pretty good chunk of gold in my IRA, probably close to 80% of my precious metals holdings which is somewhere around $150-$200k. The rest is in silver. I started building this up about 8 years ago, mostly with American Gold Eagles and some Canadian Maples, and for silver, it's mostly Eagles too. Being in the dairy business my whole life, I've always liked the tangible aspect of this investment, something that feels real, not just numbers on a screen.

My initial thought was always to keep gold as the primary hedge, the safe bet, almost like a central bank portfolio for my own money. Silver was more of the speculative play, something that could potentially pop harder. But seeing gold's consistent climb, part of me is wondering if I'm under-allocating to silver now. I mean, the gold/silver ratio has been all over the place, and it feels like there's still a lot more upside potential for silver to catch up, percentage-wise. It's not like I'm hurting for returns with the gold, but I'm always looking to optimize.

I'm mid-50s, so not exactly staring down retirement tomorrow, but it's not a decade away either. My overall portfolio is probably in the $700k range, so this physical metals portion is significant for me. I’m thinking of taking some of the gains from my gold and dollar-cost averaging into more silver over the next 6-12 months. Not a huge shift, maybe moving another 5-10% of my precious metals into silver. Has anyone else done a similar rebalance lately, or thinking about it? How do you guys decide on your gold vs. silver percentages?

I know everyone's situation is different, and I'm not looking for financial advice, just curious about other practical investors' perspectives here. Should I just stick to my guns with the heavier gold allocation, or is this a good time to beef up the silver side? It's always a balancing act, trying to make the right moves from my kitchen table here in Madison, especially when the markets get choppy.

4 comments

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Best Answer▲ 7 upvotes

patricia_miller📊Growing (50-100k)

Interesting thought process, but I'd pump the brakes on rebalancing solely because of recent price movements. Chasing performance can be a risky game, especially with metals. Gold is 80% for a reason, right? Was that original allocation based on a long-term strategy? If so, a short-term price bump might not be the best catalyst to drastically shift that.

Comments (4)

ronald_morris👑Elite (1m-5m)Real Investor•less than a minute ago

Totally get this. I was in a similar boat a few years back when silver had a bit of a dip. I had a good amount of gold, maybe 70/30 split, and decided to rebalance to around 60/40 by picking up some more silver. It felt good to diversify a bit more without completely ditching my gold position. Curious to see what you end up doing!

ashley_baker💼Starter (0-50k)✓ Verified•less than a minute ago

Interesting thought! When you say "the rest is in silver," what percentage are we talking about? Just trying to get a clearer picture of your current split before suggesting a rebalance.

patricia_miller📊Growing (50-100k)✓ Verified•less than a minute ago

donald_nelson💎Premium (500k-1m)Real Investor✓ Verified•less than a minute ago

Hey, totally feel you on watching those gold prices! It's always a good idea to re-evaluate. When you're thinking about adding more silver, it might be helpful to look at the historical gold-to-silver ratio. It can give you a different perspective on whether silver is currently undervalued compared to gold. There are lots of charts out there if you do a quick search for "gold silver ratio historical data" that can help you eyeball it.

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