Dalio Says Buy Gold and Bitcoin as Bloomberg Eyes Korea, Water

The 10-year Treasury yield touched 4.83% on September 9, its highest level in a year and a sharp reversal from the 3.97% low it hit back in late February. That move, more than any single stock chart, is why wealth managers are fielding the same question from clients: with equities near records and bonds behaving badly, where does new money actually go.

Ray Dalio answered first, and bluntly. In a LinkedIn post in late August, the Bridgewater Associates founder said investors should diversify across assets and countries with strong finances, underweighting bonds and holding about 10% to 15% of a portfolio in gold and "a bit" of Bitcoin, to hedge against the risk of a US debt crisis that he warns could be just three years away. His reasoning traces back to the debt-cycle framework from his recent book: rising debt-service costs eventually collide with insufficient investor demand, forcing governments to accept higher interest rates or central banks to print money to buy debt, weakening currencies and fueling inflation along the way, which is why he expects "non-government-produced monies like gold and Bitcoin to do relatively well."

Bloomberg's survey of wealth managers pointed toward volatility with a valuation cushion, not pure safety. Their top pick was South Korea. Even after a violent summer swing, the KOSPI is still way up in 2026 with a year-to-date performance of 66%, and Bloomberg analysts argued it's still a relative bargain considering its current valuation and the key role South Korean companies SK Hynix and Samsung play in the semiconductor market. The Kospi Index trades at approximately six times next year's earnings and less than ten times the following year's earnings, with valuations reflecting a surge in earnings from a few technology behemoths that are direct beneficiaries of AI's demand for memory chips. The catch is leverage. In the spring, the rush for all things AI pushed the use of leverage to extreme levels, and when that leverage started to abate in late June and July, the market crashed.

Two calmer ideas rounded out the list. Water infrastructure, accessed through ETFs tied to desalination and utility firms, got attention on the argument that by 2030, global water demand is expected to exceed supply by 40%. Luxury goods made the cut too, not the handbags themselves but the retailers behind them, screened for brand equity, a proven management team and exposure to regions like Southeast Asia and the Middle East with a growing upper class.

None of it amounts to a single consensus trade. It reads more like a menu for investors who no longer trust the old stock-bond mix to do its job while yields climb and equities keep grinding to new highs anyway.