Gold and inflation - a view from the trenches (VA Beach)

• •Been seeing a lot of chatter lately about inflation, and honestly, it's getting under my skin a bit.
• •As someone who's spent decades planning for my retirement, seeing my purchasing power erode is just infuriating.
• •That's exactly why I diversified into a Gold IRA a few years back.

Been seeing a lot of chatter lately about inflation, and honestly, it's getting under my skin a bit. As someone who's spent decades planning for my retirement, seeing my purchasing power erode is just infuriating. My wife and I are well into our retirement years, and while our portfolio is solid (north of $2M, thankfully), a good chunk of that was built on understanding market cycles and discipline. Not gonna lie, this current inflationary environment feels different from the usual ebb and flow I’ve seen in my 40+ years of investing, including during the high-interest rate years in the 80s.

That's exactly why I diversified into a Gold IRA a few years back. It wasn't a knee-jerk reaction; it was a calculated move after watching central banks print money like there's no tomorrow. I started with about 10% of my investable assets in physical gold through the IRA, and I've slowly bumped that up to about 15% over the last year. For me, it’s not about getting rich overnight, but about preserving what I’ve built. The goal here in Virginia Beach is to outlast the waves, and a significant portion of my financial stability is tied to the value of my pension, which even with COLAs built in, isn't keeping pace.

So, for those of you who also see gold as a core inflation hedge, what's your allocation strategy looking like these days? Are you sticking to a fixed percentage, or are you actively adjusting based on economic signals? I found a lot of good foundational information over at the Learning Center when I was first researching Gold IRAs – it helped clarify a lot of the mechanics and storage options. Beyond just the inflation angle, are any of you also looking at gold as a general safe haven against geopolitical instability right now? I’m talking about less conventional risks than just economic downturns. I'm always curious to hear what other disciplined investors are thinking.