I'm sure the people of Ukraine or Russia would've been happy with US dollars or Vanguard funds. But how easy is it to open Vanguard index funds in Ukraine or Russia? Gold is universal. You can take gold anywhere in the world and it's instantly recognized and can be easily converted into any local currency. So think of it as money. And if you think of gold as money/currency and compare it to all currencies in the world, it's the only one that has increased in value over time. Every currency in existence has lost value over time/history. Except for gold.
You seem to have irrational hate for gold and only think doomsday prepper own gold. Lot of rich people own gold. Pretty much all the govts own gold. USA govt own more gold than any other nation on earth. Why does the US govt own something so silly like gold when they have to waste all that taxpayer money guarding it? It's not like the dollar is backed by gold anymore. So why not sell it all? Or sell large portion of it? Maybe the US govt like looking at the shiny metal?
People spend lot of money on insurance they don't need or use. I spend tens of thousands a year on required insurance premiums (business, home, autos, health) which I don't use and never get back. My small gold/silver holdings are insurance against something crazy happening in the world. Who knows if WW3 will break out or the entire world economy collapses. With the world so closely linked and everything closely intertwined in derivatives and other financial instruments, it's not as far fetched idea as it once was. We came awfully close to worldwide financial meltdown in 2008. Who says we can't have a repeat down the line and the world does collapse? Great Depression happened less than a hundred years ago. I'm sure everyone in the early 1920s saw that coming.