Hello Legends, how have you been? Relieved about certain things?

I’m trying to figure out whether I should lock in some of my recent investment gains or let them ride, and I’d appreciate your insight.

Thanks to some great tips, I rarely check my portfolio, but I noticed today that the markets have had a growth spurt. For simplicity, let’s say I started with £100k, and my portfolio is now worth £200k. That’s a £100k gain, right?

Most of my funds are accumulation (ACC), so the gains are reinvested. My question is:

Does this “profit” (unrealised gain) help cushion the impact of a future crash or correction in any way, or am I just as exposed as before?
Is it better to pull some of the gains out now to lock in a bit of security—maybe to pay for something useful—or would it make sense to leave it all invested for the long term?
I understand more than I might let on, but I do have dyscalculia, so some concepts like this take me a bit longer to wrap my head around. Any simple explanations or practical advice would be greatly appreciated!

I do have a car purchase coming up for example - but I don't fancy the lump sum tax thanks if I pull a-lot out.

Sure ok - gains are on 81% and I am 56.

I do not have much work on as a S/E in the media biz.

I do have some income each year and I invest 2-3k into my SIPP at moment.

I don't need anything - the car is a need as my BMW 7 has done 90k miles and is falling to bits. So I am only going to spend maybe 40k total minus 16 trade..

Its more about me understanding things - to pull the money out / or switch some into a 5% bank for safety would be one idea but only to help out if there is another "correction"

I have not seen up surges like this.