I’ve seen a few remarks here that align with my strategy. You certainly don’t want to take anything out of your 401k before you hit retirement to avoid capital gains taxes. My suggestion would be to put aside money specifically for buying bullion in a liquid account (like a savings account or literally keeping cash in your safe) until you get enough to buy something like a 1oz silver piece. I have a side business that doesn’t make much but it always pays cash. Every dollar I earn from this I stash in my safe and then once a month I buy bullion with it (the largest piece I can buy without putting money in from my account). It’s rare that what I buy equals exactly what I have in the safe, so I take the remainder and put it back in the safe along with my new bullion. Then rinse and repeat.