As others said I think knowing the "want" for gold status is probably going to be important.
For me I always wanted to stay with gold but the reason was due to *A lounge access more than anything during international travel.
The other significant thing was economy plus selection at booking but now living in SEA the only chance I get to fly UA is to other hubs.
I ended up getting UA mileage club card and that gave me coverage on lounge access (both international *A and domestic as a bonus) mostly, as there are a few exceptions.
The other cherry on top was that club card also waives close-in award booking fees, which is not even fully waived for Gold. I believe it is $25 per.
We already used that four times this year, so $100 savings if you were Gold (or $200 if under that).
Another big benefit of being *G and Gold means BG1 but the card doesn't cover that unfortunately.