Physical Gold vs. ETFs - My Experience from Music Row

• •My financial advisor initially leaned hard on the ETF side, talking about liquidity and lower storage costs, which sounded appealing at first.
• •Has anyone else done a similar split, or regretted going one way or the other?
• •I guess it boils down to peace of mind for me, especially with all the economic uncertainty out there.

Okay, so I've been diving deep into this whole Gold IRA thing lately, and coming from the music industry here in Nashville, it's a whole different kind of investment than royalties or tour merch, haha. I finally rolled over about $75k from an old 401k into a Gold IRA earlier this year, and one of the biggest decisions was whether to go for actual physical gold coins and bars or just stick to a gold ETF. My financial advisor initially leaned hard on the ETF side, talking about liquidity and lower storage costs, which sounded appealing at first.

But man, the more I read and thought about it, the more I felt uncomfortable with "paper gold." Maybe it's the old-school vibe of holding something tangible, or just the thought of a financial system hiccup affecting my retirement savings, but the idea of owning the actual bullion just feels more secure. I ended up splitting my investment – probably about 70% in physical gold (mostly American Gold Eagles and some PAMP Suisse bars), and kept a smaller portion in a gold ETF as a sort of hedge and to see how they perform side-by-side. Has anyone else done a similar split, or regretted going one way or the other?

The whole process of getting the physical gold transferred to the depository was surprisingly smooth, though the initial shipping insurance felt a little intense. I still check the spot price daily, and watching my physical holdings appreciate (or dip sometimes, let's be real) is a completely different feeling than just seeing numbers on a screen for an ETF. I guess it boils down to peace of mind for me, especially with all the economic uncertainty out there. What are your thoughts on the true safety net of physical gold versus the convenience of paper?