01 / PROTECT
Protect capital.
Use asset classes with records of resilience or gains during particular periods of financial stress.
MY CONVICTION. MY STRATEGY.
I believe aHistoricRESETis coming.
We have been taking steps to protect capital for some time.
Start a conversation →In my judgment, markets have priced in too much optimism and too little danger.
Debt. Inflation. War. Energy disruption. Prices that assume the future will cooperate.
I do not know the trigger or the date. I believe the vulnerabilities are already here.
For someone approaching or living in retirement, the consequences could be brutal: falling investments, rising expenses, and years of withdrawals from a damaged portfolio.
THE RESPONSE / NOT A REASSURANCE
I am not preparing a
“stay the course” speech.
We have been taking steps to protect capital for some time—with a clear purpose: preserve the ability to act when opportunity comes.
02 / STAY FLEXIBLE
Maintain flexibility.
Preserve capital available for redeployment, with attention to the income retirement still requires.
03 / PURSUE
Pursue opportunity.
Seek investments at more attractive prices after a substantial repricing.
Different crises reward different assets. Understanding that distinction is central to my work.
The goal is not merely to endure the decline. It is to emerge with the resources to take advantage of it.
HISTORY / DIFFERENT ASSETS. DIFFERENT OUTCOMES.
The market fell. Gold followed a different path.
2000–2002 · THREE YEARS COMBINED
The dot-com collapse.
S&P 500
−37%
GOLD
+21%
2008 · CALENDAR YEAR
The financial crisis.
S&P 500
−37%
GOLD
+5%
Same periods. Very different outcomes.
AFTER THE CRISIS / 2009–2010 COMBINED
The reset was also an opportunity.
Gold’s gain over the following two calendar years—from the end of 2008, not the crisis low.
+61%
GOLD · CUMULATIVE GAIN
Rounded U.S.-dollar returns for the stated calendar periods, not stock-market peak-to-trough returns. S&P 500 includes reinvested dividends. Gold reflects metal-price changes, not mining stocks or a Bailey Financial Services portfolio. Multiyear figures compound annual returns. Fees, trading costs, storage, and taxes are excluded.
Gold experienced substantial declines within these periods; historical results do not guarantee future protection or gains.
Sources reviewed September 17, 2026. Source references do not imply affiliation or endorsement in either direction; Bailey Financial Services receives no compensation for these references.
PREPARATION IS A DECISION
The opportunity begins
before the panic.
Once losses force your decisions, your choices narrow.
My conviction is that preparation belongs now—while decisions can still be deliberate.
You spent decades building your retirement. “We’ll wait for it to come back” deserves more scrutiny than a reassuring nod.
Start a conversation →Wilder Bailey
Bailey Financial Services, Inc.
Bailey Financial Services, Inc. is a fee-only, state-registered investment adviser. This page reflects Wilder Bailey’s analysis and opinion, is provided for general informational purposes only, and is not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. These views are not a certainty about future markets. Historical performance does not guarantee future results. Defensive positioning can lose money or miss gains; no strategy guarantees protection or profit.