The only reason for keeping it personally would be barter in case of a total economic collapse. I mean; my precious metal ETF, nuclear energy ETF and accidental USD currency purchase at the right time kept me fully clear of any inflation here in the EU, but I doubt physical gold would do anything like it. However for barter….
I always bring up Somalia. The government crumbled and they continued to use local paper currency even after the printing presses were destroyed and there was nothing backing it. In the actual global collapse scenario, physical cash is likely to be more fungible and still have value than gold.
So if you really want to prepare for that (which should be like step 156 in terms of prepping), the right solution after you have all your direct physical needs (canned food, medicine, etc.) is simply a cash stockpile.
As well as collapse I think there's a case to be made for hedging against loss of access to the normal financial system.
E.g. maybe one day the CIA will believe very strongly that you are a terrorist. In that situation a kilo of gold might be extremely useful!
Actually this is probably an even stronger case - gold will lose almost as much value as money in the case of economic collapse. Whereas wanted terrorists can probably still get a fairly decent price.
It's a relatively rare element that has a lot of practical and social value, consistently throughout almost the entire history of humanity. It is also extremely stable compared to things which may have more practical value such as food or water, which grants it a unique value as bartering currency without central governments. It is also fairly easy to appraise to a rough degree of purity due to its stability, softness, and density.
If everything breaks down (like not just a blackout etc but all of society disapears) you are probably better off bartering with useful stuff like guns, food, tools etc
