Spousal Convincement - Gold IRA Rollover for the Win?

• •My wife, bless her heart, has always been a bit more conservative with investments than I am.
• •For years, I’ve been trying to get her on board with diversifying into something more tangible, something outside of just stocks and bonds.
• •We’re sitting on a decent chunk, about $180k in a traditional IRA, and honestly, the market volatility lately has got both of us a little on edge.

My wife, bless her heart, has always been a bit more conservative with investments than I am. For years, I’ve been trying to get her on board with diversifying into something more tangible, something outside of just stocks and bonds. We’re sitting on a decent chunk, about $180k in a traditional IRA, and honestly, the market volatility lately has got both of us a little on edge. With my line of work as a military contractor, security and stability are always top of mind, and that bleeds into how I view our finances too.

I’ve mentioned a Gold IRA rollover a few times, usually met with a polite nod and a quick change of subject. She wasn’t against it, per se, just... unconvinced. Kept saying things like "it doesn't pay dividends" or "inflation will eat away at it anyway." I get it, those are valid concerns for a lot of people. I showed her articles about historical performance, explained how it acts as a hedge, but it just wasn't clicking.

Then, surprisingly, it clicked for her last week during a late-night news binge. Some segment on economic uncertainty, global instability, and the rise of safe-haven assets. She practically woke me up, all excited, saying, "You know that gold thing you were talking about? We should really look into that." I almost fell out of bed! Apparently, she saw some report that really highlighted how gold performs during geopolitical upheaval, and suddenly, my arguments about security and a tangible asset made perfect sense to her. It wasn't my convincing, it was a random news report that finally did it.

So now we're actually looking into a partial rollover for some of that $180k. I'm thinking maybe 20-30% to start, get our feet wet. We're in Jacksonville, so I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations for reputable Gold IRA custodians or local dealers they've had good experiences with? Any pitfalls to watch out for with the rollover process itself? I want to make sure we do this right, especially since she's finally on board!