Regret Retiring Given Inflation/Market Woes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Had been planning to retire this summer in my early 60s, but the rampant inflation and stock market declines have been kicking our butts financially.

Would still have a sizable net worth but have seen investments go down substantially in recent months. Wondering if people who were part of the "Great Resignation" over the past year or so are regretting their decision. I would feel like a chump if I retired now and felt obliged to work again and ended up taking a lower-paying job. As it stands, don't have a pension and would have to pay for healthcare out of own pocket.

Most folks start to adjust their investments as they reach retirement(5 or so years out). Mostly to low risk and and least aggressive. Did you guys making any adjustments?

If your less aggressive allocation includes a lot of bonds, you're still screwed this time around.

exactly

[Anonymous]

The problem is that even a lot of bond investments have had losses similar to stocks this year. A 60/40 portfolio is having the worst year on record. I just picked this random "total bond fund" and it's down over 12% YTD: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/VBMFX

[Anonymous]

What happened to having 2-3 years of cash for living expenses so you can ride out the downturn and retire. Yes, there's inflation going after your cash, but you are not the only one. Cut back a little and work part time.
Don't look at the balance of the retirement you not suppose to touch the next 2-3 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happened to having 2-3 years of cash for living expenses so you can ride out the downturn and retire. Yes, there's inflation going after your cash, but you are not the only one. Cut back a little and work part time.
Don't look at the balance of the retirement you not suppose to touch the next 2-3 years.

This! Exactly. Same as my earlier posts. Have enough cash to get you through a bear market and you’re good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have enough cash to last 1-2 years without touching your investments, you’re fine. The people who get screwed are not those who retire in bad times, but those who retire in bad times AND sell their investments.

Re: cash

What happens in times of inflation, when your money buys less?

Good Lord! Has the present moment warped your sense of time and practicality? If you have $3-$5million in investments and $200k in cash/cash equivalents, you are overwhelmingly protected from inflation. If you don’t like cash, draw on a line of credit, perhaps a HELOC.

This is such a ridiculous statement. Inflation is going to impact everyone, regardless of their net worth. Some may not struggle as much but it still impacts their budget. 3-5M in investments is not living high on the hog if you retire at 60 and live another 30 years, especially in this area. I would be seriously concerned about inflation and the economy in that scenario.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have enough cash to last 1-2 years without touching your investments, you’re fine. The people who get screwed are not those who retire in bad times, but those who retire in bad times AND sell their investments.

Re: cash

What happens in times of inflation, when your money buys less?

Good Lord! Has the present moment warped your sense of time and practicality? If you have $3-$5million in investments and $200k in cash/cash equivalents, you are overwhelmingly protected from inflation. If you don’t like cash, draw on a line of credit, perhaps a HELOC.

This is such a ridiculous statement. Inflation is going to impact everyone, regardless of their net worth. Some may not struggle as much but it still impacts their budget. 3-5M in investments is not living high on the hog if you retire at 60 and live another 30 years, especially in this area. I would be seriously concerned about inflation and the economy in that scenario.

The original comment about inflation was in reference to keeping two years of cash. If one has 5% of their money in cash or cash equivalents and the remainder invested to outpace inflation, my earlier statement is not “ridiculous.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to having 2-3 years of cash for living expenses so you can ride out the downturn and retire. Yes, there's inflation going after your cash, but you are not the only one. Cut back a little and work part time.
Don't look at the balance of the retirement you not suppose to touch the next 2-3 years.

This! Exactly. Same as my earlier posts. Have enough cash to get you through a bear market and you’re good.

So let's say I have 2-3 years cash and the market stays down 2-3 years, I use all my cash. What is the next step? Even if the market is fine, when retirees use up their cash allocation, do they replenish their cash at some point via re-balancing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happened to having 2-3 years of cash for living expenses so you can ride out the downturn and retire. Yes, there's inflation going after your cash, but you are not the only one. Cut back a little and work part time.
Don't look at the balance of the retirement you not suppose to touch the next 2-3 years.

This! Exactly. Same as my earlier posts. Have enough cash to get you through a bear market and you’re good.

So let's say I have 2-3 years cash and the market stays down 2-3 years, I use all my cash. What is the next step? Even if the market is fine, when retirees use up their cash allocation, do they replenish their cash at some point via re-balancing?

For us the next step would be to cut spending. We are early (mostly) retirees. I work part-time, enough to be able to deduct our health insurance against my income. With no debt most of our spending is discretionary, especially travel which is pretty easy to cut back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I retired 7 years ago at 53. So far I've been through two major market adjustments. The first was two years ago, when Covid first hit and the market dropped more than 30 percent. The second is now.

Market fluctuations are part of life. If you don't think you can stomach them, you're not ready to retire.

You have to think and look long term. Yes, things suck right now -- big time. But I'm still well, well ahead of where I was when I retired despite two major market fluctuations. My net worth was $4.8 million when I retired in 2015, and as of today it's $7.02 million. Yes, six months ago it was $8 million, meaning on paper I've lost $1 million this year. But I'm staying the course, and not regretting my decision to retire one iota.

+1. You need to be comfortable with the equity portion of your portfolio dropping as much as 50%. If that makes you nervous, then you had too much at risk.

+3 this is part of life, it will be up and down. Most likely you're still looking at a long horizon - 30 years if you live til 90? 20 if you live til 80? still a very long horizon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have about 6k/mo in rental income coming in after taxes. I’m living on that and not touching anything else. Not a problem. I’m reinvesting all dividend as well.

+1. we're pretty much in the same boat. 8k/mo covers essentially all our needs since everything is paid off..cars, mortgages, colleges, etc.

[Anonymous]

When the market was roaring, having 2-3 years of expenses in cash was seen as a missed opportunity, even for people close to retirement. And it's true that interest rates on savings accounts were pathetic - the best I could get for a HYSA was .3%. I did it anyway, because I have an extra large security gland. Of course it loses out to inflation every year, but its point isn't to maximize yield. Its point is to help you get through an environment like this without selling investments at a loss, racking up credit cut debt, or drastically cutting living expenses.

[Anonymous]

Co I worked for wanted more diversity, so employees with 30 + yr experience were forced out. If you didn't believe Drag queen bingo at a co. holiday party was awesome, you were given s*&t assignments. Complain? Told, seniority "doesn't count" because "we are in a pandemic"

IF the company culture was the same as it was pre-2019, I would NOT have been forced out & I would NOT chose to retire. I refuse to return to work & take a low paying job- I just do not buy any extras, will not go on vacations, or give big gifts. I would rather do with less & wait for SS & Medicare to kick in. (So I have no income at all, except for what I withdrew from 401k & my savings)

Oh & I have the lovely opportunity to pay over $32k/yr for health ins for myself & wife, (& we better not get sick because we have copays, coinsurance or we are really screwed) Can't qualify for any subsidies for ACA because I took $ out of my 401k, so we "make too much".

I can't regret retiring, because it was NOT my choice. But as a long time union member & Democrat, I certainly regret paying union dues & my voting choices.

If you are not being forced out, I would not retire until you can get SS & Medicare.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When the market was roaring, having 2-3 years of expenses in cash was seen as a missed opportunity, even for people close to retirement. And it's true that interest rates on savings accounts were pathetic - the best I could get for a HYSA was .3%. I did it anyway, because I have an extra large security gland. Of course it loses out to inflation every year, but its point isn't to maximize yield. Its point is to help you get through an environment like this without selling investments at a loss, racking up credit cut debt, or drastically cutting living expenses.

There are other options. I, for example, am currently retired (early) but still have a lot of my portfolio invested in the market. I suspected this might be a tough year for stocks, so I sold some on literally the first trading day of the year in January. But, in retrospect I didn't sell enough -- I got hit with a bigger tax bill than I had expected because I made a foolish mistake in 2021 that cost me big time. So now I'm sitting on maybe 2 months in cash reserves, 3 tops.

It's not a matter of now having to sell stocks at a loss, but of having to sell them at less of a gain. That's what happens when you play the long term game. I'm thinking, though, that instead of even doing that I might first try borrowing a few months' worth of cash from the pledged asset line that I have set up with my brokerage firm to buy a little time and see where the market goes. The interest rate is still pretty low (around 3 percent), so I'm tempted to give it a shot.

Times like these require creative thinking -- not panic or regret.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For healthcare reasons alone I'd recommend keep working.

Have you priced out Obamacare for your state?

I pay $800 per month (for 1) with a $6000 deductible under the Affordable Care act. It is the cheapest plan offered in my state. I get no government subsidy as I earn over $46,000 per year.

My mom decided to work part-time for this very reason. She retired in 2020 after her company outsourced her department. The amount they paid for insurance on their own for 2021 was outrageous (her old company covered insurance through the end of 2020). She decided to look for a job this year and use the income towards insurance. The job asked her to steadily increase her hours, so she's now working 40 hours per week and qualified for benefits in May. She doesn't mind because compared to her last job, it's cake. There's no stress or high demands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Co I worked for wanted more diversity, so employees with 30 + yr experience were forced out. If you didn't believe Drag queen bingo at a co. holiday party was awesome, you were given s*&t assignments. Complain? Told, seniority "doesn't count" because "we are in a pandemic"

IF the company culture was the same as it was pre-2019, I would NOT have been forced out & I would NOT chose to retire. I refuse to return to work & take a low paying job- I just do not buy any extras, will not go on vacations, or give big gifts. I would rather do with less & wait for SS & Medicare to kick in. (So I have no income at all, except for what I withdrew from 401k & my savings)

Oh & I have the lovely opportunity to pay over $32k/yr for health ins for myself & wife, (& we better not get sick because we have copays, coinsurance or we are really screwed) Can't qualify for any subsidies for ACA because I took $ out of my 401k, so we "make too much".

I can't regret retiring, because it was NOT my choice. But as a long time union member & Democrat, I certainly regret paying union dues & my voting choices.

If you are not being forced out, I would not retire until you can get SS & Medicare.

Unlikely this is why you were forced out. And if so, why didn't you do like people in the 90's did, and keep it to themselves.