Hearing from my accountant about Gold IRA tax advantages - anyone else confirm?

• •Just got off the phone with my accountant, a straight shooter who’s handled my finances since I retired from the Navy back in '08.
• •We were reviewing my portfolio, which has thankfully crossed the $3M mark recently, and talking about tax-efficient strategies for the long haul.
• •The security of knowing those gains are shielded as long as the gold stays within the IRA wrapper is a big comfort.

Just got off the phone with my accountant, a straight shooter who’s handled my finances since I retired from the Navy back in '08. We were reviewing my portfolio, which has thankfully crossed the $3M mark recently, and talking about tax-efficient strategies for the long haul. I've had a modest allocation to physical gold through a Gold IRA for about six years now, primarily for diversification and as a hedge against inflation given all the printing we've seen since the pandemic. He reiterated the key tax advantages, specifically how distributions in retirement are taxed as ordinary income, similar to a traditional IRA, but there's no capital gains tax on the appreciation of the physical gold itself within the account. He also mentioned that if I were to convert some traditional IRA funds to a Roth Gold IRA, while I'd pay taxes upfront, all qualified distributions later would be completely tax-free.

I’m just an old Admiral from Virginia Beach who likes things laid out plain, and he made it sound pretty compelling for someone in my tax bracket looking to protect capital over decades. He touched on the idea that holding physical gold outside of a retirement account would incur capital gains taxes when sold, potentially at a much higher rate depending on the holding period and my income when I decide to sell. The security of knowing those gains are shielded as long as the gold stays within the IRA wrapper is a big comfort.

It brings up a good question for the community here – have any of you had similar conversations with your financial advisors or accountants? Are there any downsides to this approach for long-term wealth preservation that I might be overlooking? My initial investment in physical gold was about $200k, and it's certainly appreciated nicely, but I’m always open to different perspectives, especially from those with real-world experience. I also used the Eligibility Checker a while back when I was first looking into this, and it was a helpful starting point to ensure I even qualified before I dove deeper. Curious if others have found it useful or if there are other resources people recommend for understanding all the nuances.