Thinking about recession-proofing with silver bars? My experience and some thoughts.

• •I'm a healthcare admin here in Tampa, and while I have a pretty steady gig, seeing the market jitters always makes me a little antsy.
• •I've been a steady gold investor for years, primarily through a Gold IRA, and it's served me well as a hedge.
• •Has anyone else gone this route for recession-proofing, specifically with silver bars?

Okay, so with all the talk lately about a potential recession – especially with interest rates and inflation doing their thing – I've been giving a lot of thought to how my portfolio is positioned. I'm a healthcare admin here in Tampa, and while I have a pretty steady gig, seeing the market jitters always makes me a little antsy. I've been a steady gold investor for years, primarily through a Gold IRA, and it's served me well as a hedge. I've got a decent chunk in there, probably around $180k now, mostly in gold coins, but I'm thinking about diversifying within the precious metals space, specifically into silver bars for some added recession-proofing.

My reasoning is this: gold is great for its stability and long-term value preservation, but silver often has more industrial demand, which could be interesting if we see a bounce back after a downturn. Plus, the entry point for silver is obviously much lower per ounce, so it feels like a good way to spread out some risk and potentially capture more upside if it really takes off. I've been eyeing some 10oz and 100oz bars thinking about the storage aspect too – bars feel more straightforward than a ton of smaller coins for larger quantities. Has anyone else gone this route for recession-proofing, specifically with silver bars? Did you see the kind of counter-cyclical performance you hoped for?

I'm torn between allocating more funds to my existing Gold IRA for more gold coins or starting to build up a physical silver bar stash. I'm thinking about peeling off maybe $10k-$15k from my regular brokerage account to start this. It feels like a reasonable amount to begin with without over-exposing myself. Any input on providers for physical silver bars? I've used some of the bigger online dealers for my gold purchases in the past, but curious if there are other, perhaps more local (Florida-based?) options people have had good experiences with for direct purchase and delivery. Finding a reputable dealer is always key, especially with larger investments.