You can see here that the inclusion of 5% gold in a traditional 60/40 stocks/bonds portfolio increases returns and reduces the risk and worst year. The Permanent Portfolio produces a much lower overall portfolio balance, but note the massive risk reduction, particularly in terms of worst year. For those with high risk aversion who can’t afford a bad year (for example, those in retirement who don’t have an investment timeframe over which to recover the loss), that performance hit may be worth it to avoid the pain of years where there are massive losses.