Felix Prehn Says the Metals Bull Market Just Turned a Corner and Has Far Longer Legs Than Anyone Expects
In a powerful Kitco News interview recorded on August 25, 2026, former investment banker Felix Prehn delivered a clear and highly constructive message for gold and silver investors.
While warning that most people’s retirement accounts are dangerously concentrated in the same AI trade, Prehn made the case that physical metals remain essential protection and that the mining sector in particular is set up for a much longer run than the consensus believes.
Prehn was direct about the monetary backdrop. Referring to the Treasury’s expanded bond buybacks starting September 9, he stated: “It’s just money printing… They’re selling it to the Fed. So the Fed therefore prints the money… Asset prices will go up. Your salary will go down. Your cash will go down.”
He described the process as the government running “a Ponzi scheme” that forces more money into assets and erodes the purchasing power of ordinary savers.
That environment, he argued, is precisely why people turn to gold.
On the metals themselves Prehn was unequivocally bullish over meaningful time horizons. “Personally, I’m bullish on these metals… if your horizon is 10 or 20 years.”
He framed gold’s role with characteristic clarity: “Gold doesn’t go up, the dollar goes down. So it protects us, but it doesn’t actually make us wealthy.”
Yet that protection is becoming more valuable as money printing accelerates. “We’ve turned a bullish corner again here… the very apparent US government money printing being in full swing again… it’s going to be the biggest money printing we’ve seen… Therefore, people buy gold.”
The mining story, in Prehn’s view, has even greater runway. Despite record free cash flow at major producers, new supply cannot arrive quickly. “This gold and silver story and the miners has longer legs than most people think. It’ll be cyclical. It’ll be pretty volatile but fundamentally it just takes a really really long period of time to get gold and silver mines up and running.”
He noted that bringing a mine into production routinely takes fifteen years or more, so today’s strong cash generation will not translate into a flood of new metal anytime soon.
That structural shortage supports higher prices for longer.
Silver received special attention for its dual role. “The fundamental story with silver is that silver is actually an industrial metal with incredible demand behind it… all the AI stuff couldn’t be done without silver at present.”
While gold is the more stable choice for a shorter five-year window, Prehn said that if forced to choose purely on return potential, “it would be silver.”
The industrial pull from technology and energy applications, combined with monetary demand, creates a powerful setup.
Prehn’s own portfolio actions reinforce the message. He continues to hold physical metal as insurance “like your car insurance… going to make you feel better and sleep better at night.”
At the same time he has been buying non-AI businesses such as railroads and shipping companies to diversify away from the crowded tech trade that already dominates most 401(k)s. He estimated typical retail exposure to AI-related names at 60 to 70 percent, with a plain index fund already roughly half AI.
Doubling down on the same names, he warned, simply multiplies risk.
For those still sitting in cash, Prehn was blunt: “Cash is not neutral… If you sat in cash, it would be worth a third of a cent right now [since 1971]. So the choice is not sitting in cash. It is just a choice you have to take off the table.”
Inflation created by money printing acts as a hidden tax, making real assets the rational response.
The overall picture Prehn painted is one of a monetary regime that continues to expand liquidity, a gold market that has turned higher on the back of that expansion, a silver market supported by both investment and industrial demand, and a mining sector whose supply response is measured in decades rather than years.
In his words, the story simply “has longer legs than most people think.”
For investors who understand the difference between insurance and speculation, and who refuse to leave the bulk of their wealth exposed to a single crowded trade, the setup looks increasingly compelling.
In a powerful Kitco News interview recorded on August 25, 2026, former investment banker Felix Prehn delivered a clear and highly constructive message for gold and silver investors.
While warning that most people’s retirement accounts are dangerously concentrated in the same AI trade, Prehn made the case that physical metals remain essential protection and that the mining sector in particular is set up for a much longer run than the consensus believes.
Prehn was direct about the monetary backdrop. Referring to the Treasury’s expanded bond buybacks starting September 9, he stated: “It’s just money printing… They’re selling it to the Fed. So the Fed therefore prints the money… Asset prices will go up. Your salary will go down. Your cash will go down.”
He described the process as the government running “a Ponzi scheme” that forces more money into assets and erodes the purchasing power of ordinary savers.
That environment, he argued, is precisely why people turn to gold.
On the metals themselves Prehn was unequivocally bullish over meaningful time horizons. “Personally, I’m bullish on these metals… if your horizon is 10 or 20 years.”
He framed gold’s role with characteristic clarity: “Gold doesn’t go up, the dollar goes down. So it protects us, but it doesn’t actually make us wealthy.”
Yet that protection is becoming more valuable as money printing accelerates. “We’ve turned a bullish corner again here… the very apparent US government money printing being in full swing again… it’s going to be the biggest money printing we’ve seen… Therefore, people buy gold.”
The mining story, in Prehn’s view, has even greater runway. Despite record free cash flow at major producers, new supply cannot arrive quickly. “This gold and silver story and the miners has longer legs than most people think. It’ll be cyclical. It’ll be pretty volatile but fundamentally it just takes a really really long period of time to get gold and silver mines up and running.”
He noted that bringing a mine into production routinely takes fifteen years or more, so today’s strong cash generation will not translate into a flood of new metal anytime soon.
That structural shortage supports higher prices for longer.
Silver received special attention for its dual role. “The fundamental story with silver is that silver is actually an industrial metal with incredible demand behind it… all the AI stuff couldn’t be done without silver at present.”
While gold is the more stable choice for a shorter five-year window, Prehn said that if forced to choose purely on return potential, “it would be silver.”
The industrial pull from technology and energy applications, combined with monetary demand, creates a powerful setup.
Prehn’s own portfolio actions reinforce the message. He continues to hold physical metal as insurance “like your car insurance… going to make you feel better and sleep better at night.”
At the same time he has been buying non-AI businesses such as railroads and shipping companies to diversify away from the crowded tech trade that already dominates most 401(k)s. He estimated typical retail exposure to AI-related names at 60 to 70 percent, with a plain index fund already roughly half AI.
Doubling down on the same names, he warned, simply multiplies risk.
For those still sitting in cash, Prehn was blunt: “Cash is not neutral… If you sat in cash, it would be worth a third of a cent right now [since 1971]. So the choice is not sitting in cash. It is just a choice you have to take off the table.”
Inflation created by money printing acts as a hidden tax, making real assets the rational response.
The overall picture Prehn painted is one of a monetary regime that continues to expand liquidity, a gold market that has turned higher on the back of that expansion, a silver market supported by both investment and industrial demand, and a mining sector whose supply response is measured in decades rather than years.
In his words, the story simply “has longer legs than most people think.”
For investors who understand the difference between insurance and speculation, and who refuse to leave the bulk of their wealth exposed to a single crowded trade, the setup looks increasingly compelling.
