Geopolitical mess and my gold allocation - thoughts?

• •Honestly, watching the global situation right now makes me feel like I made the right call with my gold allocation years ago.
• •The ongoing mess in Eastern Europe, combined with the chatter about Taiwan and the general instability just gives me a knot in my stomach.
• •I got into gold primarily as a hedge, not for speculative gains, and it feels like that conviction is being tested daily.

Honestly, watching the global situation right now makes me feel like I made the right call with my gold allocation years ago. The ongoing mess in Eastern Europe, combined with the chatter about Taiwan and the general instability just gives me a knot in my stomach. I got into gold primarily as a hedge, not for speculative gains, and it feels like that conviction is being tested daily. I parked about 7% of my portfolio in physical gold and a bit more in some mining stocks back when inflation actually seemed "transitory." Now, it's my peace-of-mind insurance policy.

I’m seeing central banks gobbling up gold like crazy and it makes me wonder if they're seeing something I’m not, or if they're just reacting to the same headlines we all are. The chatter at the club in Greenwich has definitely shifted. A few years ago, it was all about tech multiples; now, it's often about sovereign debt and currency debasement. It’s almost like the old guard finally woke up to what some of us saw coming with the endless QE.

My concern is that if things really go south, how much further can gold realistically run? It's already performed admirably. I'm sitting on a decent chunk of appreciation on my initial investment – probably up 15-20% since I really started scaling in during the Trump administration and then aggressively during early COVID. Part of me thinks about taking some off the table but then I look at the news cycle and think, "Nah, hold."

Anyone else feeling this tug-of-war? Are you guys increasing your allocation given the geopolitical climate, or are you thinking this is potentially a peak for gold prices given the current level of fear already priced in? Would love to hear some other perspectives on navigating this.