Finally seeing gold pay off, long-term holds for the win

• •Just wanted to share a bit of a win and see if anyone else is in a similar boat.
• •I've been pretty heavy into gold for over a decade now, mostly through my IRA.
• •I started building positions around 2011-2013, really stacking when things felt...

Just wanted to share a bit of a win and see if anyone else is in a similar boat. I've been pretty heavy into gold for over a decade now, mostly through my IRA. Coming from the hedge fund world here in Greenwich, it was always a bit of an contrarian play for me, a way to diversify away from the usual paper assets. My firm's portfolio is obviously much more sophisticated, but for my personal allocation, a significant chunk is in physical gold rounds and some allocated accounts. I started building positions around 2011-2013, really stacking when things felt... uncertain, which, let's be honest, has been most of the last decade.

For years, it felt like parking a chunk of change. Good for stability, a hedge against inflation, sure, but not exactly a barn burner. I remember showing friends my statements and they'd just shrug. "Why not just buy SPY?" they'd ask. And honestly, there were times I wondered if I was being too conservative, too old-school. My initial ~$750k allocation into gold for my personal IRA wasn’t showing massive growth for a long time. It was a drag on the overall portfolio, percentage-wise, compared to some of the tech plays I was in.

But man, is it singing now. With all the geopolitical noise, inflation stubbornly high, and central banks doing... whatever it is they're doing, gold has really come into its own. I ran the numbers this morning, and my gold positions alone are up something like 35% in the last year, pushing the total value comfortably north of $1.5 million. It’s finally outperforming a significant portion of my other holdings beyond just acting as a ballast. It feels damn good to see that patience pay off, especially when everyone else is scrambling.

Anyone else feeling this surge now after holding through the lean years? What's your take on gold's trajectory from here? I'm debating whether to take some profits or just let it ride, given the current macro environment. Part of me thinks this is just the beginning.