The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that safe havens ain't what they used to be. The Globe's Ian McGugan writes that safe-haven stalwarts gold and silver have endured a wild couple of weeks. Bitcoin has been declining for months and even the mighty U.S. dollar is wobbly. Things look better if you focus on the stock market, but there, too, the volatility in some areas has been vicious. The sprawling U.S. software sector, usually a steady spinner of wealth, suffered a $300-billion (U.S.) hit this week after Anthropic PBC unveiled new artificial-intelligence tools that could potentially supplant a wide swath of existing software products. Even the Magnificent Seven stocks are showing signs of strain, with Amazon, Microsoft and Tesla losing value since the start of the year. Risk is difficult to assess and even more difficult to avoid. Buying low-risk assets is a strategy that works splendidly right up until it does not. In times of upheaval, supposedly ultrasafe assets can abruptly turn treacherous -- as bank stocks did during the 2008 global financial crisis. One good tactic is to embrace diversification. Consider buying a balanced exchange-traded fund such as Vanguard Canada's VBAL or iShares' XBAL.