What do people do when a serious downturn happens 5 years or so before retirement?

[Anonymous]

I try to be as diverse as possible in my investments. I have a brokerage account, a stock account, real estate, art and other collectibles. I’m hoping that if something tanks something else will remain strong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have been moving money out of the market as you approach retirement. People that have lots saved can stay more invested. If you have 5M and the market drops 20%,you are still fine. If you have 1m$ it is a bigger issue.

This. Most people (except this forum) are closer to $1m million saved. Unfortunately these people sometimes don't know when to pull out of equity and as a result they can get badly burned.

The median net worth in the US is like $195k…and most are at that level from house equity.

Most people don’t have anything near $1MM saved.

If this true I don't even know what to say. How can people survive ?

They work as long as they can (hopefully into their 70s…but many have health issues preventing that) and they live off SS payments and meager savings.

I have a family member who owns their home in a very low cost area (worth like $125k) and gets $2400/month in SS.

He lives very modestly and probably is able to save $500/month.

[Anonymous]

I’m three years out and I’m still in the market heavily. However, I have a pension coming that will meet all my bills so that’s my “safe” money. SS will plus it up, and the investments are the fun money that if there’s a downturn I can still let it ride.

[Anonymous]

I'm retiring in 3 years. I have five years of spending in money market funds so it's keeping up with inflation but not at risk. The rest of our retirement savings is currently 60% stock/40% bonds. We were 90% equities for years but shifted to this a few years ago as retirement approached. Between the money market and bond part of our portfolio, we have a lot of runway to wait for a stock crash to recover.

In normal times, the 5 years is probably overly conservative but I'm extremely pessimistic about the Trump economy over the next few years. I'd rather have that peace of mind vs a bit more gains.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do people in retirement move their money?

When? At what stage?

I like the idea of slowing adding more to bonds and cash without removing money from stocks. This is one way to increase the percentage of bonds in a portfolio without the expense of selling the stocks. But I am not an expert so don't do what I do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you think will happen when Trump doesn't leave office?

Retirees in this country are toast.

Yoooo what?!

Do you hear yourself right now? You don’t think you’re even a little bit loonie? Turn off the fake news and touch grass.

Trump is just fn with you crazy ladies when he says stuff like that. Because it’s hilarious.

You’re about to make financial decisions based on this? Whoa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should have been moving money out of the market as you approach retirement. People that have lots saved can stay more invested. If you have 5M and the market drops 20%,you are still fine. If you have 1m$ it is a bigger issue.

+1 I've been having our financial advisor move gains into more fixed income or less riskier investments. I'm 56, planning to start pulling at 59.5 as I will be returning soon.

[Anonymous]

They work longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They work longer.

This is the answer for the majority of people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You shouldn’t be fully in the market 5 years before retirement.

Thats all well and good until laid off at 52 and retire without choice (because no professional job will hire you)

[Anonymous]

Downturns last under 2 years. Put two years of expenses in HYSA.
As for myself, I will have a blast living on $1500 a month in my retirement location ($3k in USA I'd say). This is easily covered by SS and dividends.
I have gone bare-bones so many times in my life. I love it. About to do it for 2026.

[Anonymous]

We have 3 accounts and are currently retired

Inherited Roth IRA $400K invested 85% in stocks. 8 years left b4 we must pull out.

Investment account $800K off which we are living. 40% in stocks, 60% in bonds.

IRA $1.7M 60% in stocks, 40% in bonds.

Also have a pension ($80K a year) and 2 SS's that will be available to us in 2-3 years.

I think it's all about stocks vs bonds. Our accounts are managed by Vanguard and so far they are doing a great job.

[Anonymous]

< 5 years to retirement, you should have a good percentage(35-40%) of your $ in bonds. And 2-3 years of $ in cash.

Pension, deferred comp and SS income are also good to help mitigate sequence of returns risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have 3 accounts and are currently retired

Inherited Roth IRA $400K invested 85% in stocks. 8 years left b4 we must pull out.
Investment account $800K off which we are living. 40% in stocks, 60% in bonds.
IRA $1.7M 60% in stocks, 40% in bonds.
Also have a pension ($80K a year) and 2 SS's that will be available to us in 2-3 years.

I think it's all about stocks vs bonds. Our accounts are managed by Vanguard and so far they are doing a great job.

Me again. Should have mentioned that my DH was laid off at 60 a couple of years ago so we just played the hand we were dealt -- no planning per se. I stopped working decades ago due to chronic pain issues and stayed home to raise my DD.

[Anonymous]

As someone who has had money in Vanguard for decades, I find it interesting that you can only see YTD, 1 yr, 3 yr, 5 yr and 10 yr performance data.

A lot of people are in for a shock when this bull market ends.