Do physical asset investments still matter in modern portfolios?
Most portfolios today are built around digital investments like stocks, ETFs, bonds, and cash held in banks or brokerage accounts, mainly because they are easy to trade, store, and diversify.
Even traditional stores of value like gold and silver are usually accessed through ETFs or kept in vaults by custodians rather than being held or used in physical form for any practical purpose.
This made me think about the role of physical exposure in general:
Is there still any real benefit to holding physical asset-backed value in a modern portfolio or have digital instruments fully replaced that need in terms of diversification, safety or long-term holding?