Bailey Financial Services

What Bailey Financial Services does

Bailey Financial Services, Inc. is an independent, fee-only Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) founded and operated by Wilder Bailey, headquartered in Watkinsville, Georgia. The firm provides fiduciary investment advisory and retirement income planning services to individual clients, with a niche specialization in serving current and retired employees of utility companies—particularly Southern Company, Georgia Power, and Southern Nuclear—who face complex pension elections, concentrated company-stock positions, and multi-benefit retirement structures. The practice targets households within 10-15 years of retirement or already retired, combining cycle-aware portfolio construction with sequence-of-returns risk management informed by Bailey's experience through Black Monday (1987), the Dotcom collapse (2000-2002), the 2008 financial crisis, and the current market environment.

The firm does not operate proprietary technology; instead, it leverages the AssetMark platform for portfolio management, research, due diligence, reporting, and account access, allowing it to offer institutional-grade infrastructure while preserving advisor independence. Service delivery pairs one-on-one advisory relationships with a content-led organic marketing motion that includes an extensive blog covering market cycles and valuation metrics, three published books ("Think Like A Survivor," "The Creature That Ate America," "The Rhythm of Ruin"), and interactive educational tools such as the Portfolio Preparedness Review, The Reset retirement stress-test calculator, and a Purchasing Power Calculator. Distribution is direct-to-consumer via website inquiries, initial 20-minute consultations, and uncompensated client testimonials; no paid advertising or intermediary channels are disclosed.

The revenue model is recurring and subscription-style: clients pay transparent, asset-based advisory fees tied to assets under management, with no commissions, no proprietary product sales, no sales quotas, and no trailer fees. The firm is privately held by its founder, with no external investors, parent company, or institutional backing, and operates with a stated headcount of effectively one principal. Geographic focus is the Southeast United States, particularly Georgia and surrounding regions.

Name

Bailey Financial Services

Legal name

Bailey Financial Services, Inc.

Website

https://baileyfs.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Bailey Financial Services is a Georgia-based independent fee-only RIA providing fiduciary retirement income planning to individuals, with a niche specialization in Southern Company, Georgia Power, and Southern Nuclear employees and retirees facing complex pension and benefit decisions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Retirement Planning & Investment Advisory

NAICS

Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (52394)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Fee-Only Advisory (FSAEAAAL)

Keywords

• Retirement income planning
• Fiduciary investment advisory
• Wealth management services
• Utility retirement benefits
• Independent RIA advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

Watkinsville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Investment Advisory Fees: Fee-only, fiduciary investment advisory services. Fees are transparent and primarily asset-based (percentage of assets under management). No proprietary products, no sales commissions, no trailer fees. Open-architecture platform allows choosing from a wide range of managers, ETFs, and strategies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Bailey Financial Services is a fee-only, fiduciary Registered Investment Advisor providing retirement income planning and ongoing investment advisory services primarily to retirees and pre-retirees, with deep specialization in utility-industry employees (Southern Company, Georgia Power, Southern Nuclear) facing complex pension elections, concentrated company stock, and multi-benefit retirement structures. The practice combines asset-based advisory fees, an open-architecture investment platform (AssetMark), and cycle-aware portfolio construction supported by educational assessment tools such as the Portfolio Preparedness Review, The Reset stress-test calculator, and a Purchasing Power inflation calculator.

Product overview

Bailey Financial Services offers a unified advisory practice built around retirement income planning and investment management for retirees and pre-retirees. The core offering centers on fiduciary, fee-only investment advice with a distinctive cycle-aware framework. The service integrates several interconnected tools: a Portfolio Preparedness Review for initial assessment, The Reset stress-test calculator for retirement income modeling, and a Purchasing Power Calculator for inflation analysis. Research and market commentary support the advisory relationship, alongside educational materials including the book 'Think Like A Survivor.' The practice specializes in serving Southern Company, Georgia Power, and Southern Nuclear employees and retirees.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Retirement Income Planning Comprehensive retirement planning service focused on income reliability, drawdown control, inflation resilience, and behavior management for retirees and pre-retirees. Includes coordinated planning across pension elections, 401(k)/IRA rollovers, retiree benefits, Social Security timing, and inflation-aware drawdown strategy.
• Investment Advisory Services Fee-only, fiduciary investment advice focused on market cycle awareness, sequence-of-returns risk management, and cycle-aware portfolio construction via the open-architecture AssetMark platform. Compensated through transparent, asset-based advisory fees with no commissions, no proprietary products, and no trailer fees.
• Specialized Services for Southern Company/Utility Families Targeted retirement planning service for current and retired Southern Company, Georgia Power, and Southern Nuclear employees and families, covering pension election decisions (single life vs. joint/survivor vs. lump sum), concentrated company stock diversification, and coordination of complex utility-industry benefit structures.
• Think Like A Survivor (Book) Educational book offering perspective on navigating markets through insights from Black Monday, the Dotcom bubble, and the 2008 housing crisis, positioned as a standalone educational offering from Bailey Financial Services.

Quantifiable outcome

• No guaranteed outcomes; past performance does not guarantee future results. All investing involves risk.
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AssetMarkcoreTechnology or IntegrationAssetMark provides the investment platform, research resources, technology, reporting, and operational support behind the scenes. Bailey Financial Services remains the primary advisor, guide, and point of contact for clients. AssetMark access includes professionally managed investment strategies, due diligence resources, portfolio implementation and monitoring tools, technology for reporting and account access, and operational support. This partnership allows the independent RIA to offer institutional-level infrastructure while maintaining advisor independence and autonomy.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Fidelity Wealth Management: Fidelity's fee-based wealth management and Personalized Planning & Advice service targeting pre-retirees and retirees. Direct incumbent competitor on brand, scale, fees, and platform infrastructure.
• Edelman Financial Engines: Large national RIA combining advice, planning, and investment management, with deep retirement-plan and decumulation expertise. Overlaps with Bailey on retirement-income focus and individual-client fiduciary delivery, at substantially greater scale.
• Vanguard Personal Advisor Services: Low-cost, hybrid robo-plus-human advisory service from Vanguard targeting retirement savers and retirees. Competitor for the same retiree segment with significantly lower fees and brand scale; key incumbent that Bailey explicitly differentiates against on independence and personalization.
• Charles Schwab Wealth Advisory: Schwab's fee-based discretionary wealth advisory and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios hybrid offering. Competes for retiree households seeking institutional pricing and scale; relevant incumbent benchmark for fee compression and digital delivery trends.

Direct peers

• Creative Planning: Large independent, fee-based RIA offering comprehensive wealth management, retirement planning, and tax services to individuals and families. Comparable in fiduciary-style positioning, retirement focus, and asset-based revenue model, though meaningfully larger in scale and headcount.
• Keen Wealth Advisors: Independent, fee-only RIA serving pre-retirees and retirees with holistic financial planning and investment management. Closely comparable in client demographic (10-15 years from retirement), service model, and sole/small-team practitioner structure.
• Ronald Blue Trust: Fee-only, fiduciary RIA providing personalized investment advisory and retirement planning to individuals and families. Closely comparable in business model (fee-only, asset-based, fiduciary), target market (mass-affluent individuals, retirees), and independence positioning.
• Carson Wealth: Independent RIA platform serving individuals and families with retirement, investment, and estate planning under a fiduciary model. Comparable in independent, fee-based advisory model and retirement-income focus, though operates as a multi-advisor platform.
• Buckingham Strategic Wealth: Independent, fee-only RIA specializing in evidence-based financial planning, tax-aware investing, and retirement income planning for individuals. Highly comparable service mix, fee-only model, and emphasis on fiduciary independence versus wirehouse/IBD competitors.

Emerging players

• Facet Wealth: Digital-first RIA delivering flat-fee financial planning and investment management to mass-affluent clients, including retirees. Targets a similar pre-retiree/retiree demographic with a tech-enabled, lower-cost model that competes for the same household as Bailey Financial Services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/tacticalassets
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bailey-financial-services-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bailey Financial Services