Ep 59: Can I Retire in a Down Stock Market?

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Can you still retire in a down market? With the stock market down and inflation up, that question is on a lot of minds. We’re going to talk about the factors involved in making this decision and how we help people like you determine the answer to this question.

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Show Notes

When the market is down, you might wonder if you should still retire as planned. There are a lot of factors that go into your retirement, but they primarily revolve around one factor – how much you’ll need to withdraw to live your lifestyle, or your income gap.

News outlets have been covering this topic a lot lately. Business Insider had a story about economist Jeremy Siegel, who believes that stocks are close to the bottom despite ongoing volatility. He says that the S&P 500 has likely already priced in a recession, so “we’re closer to the lows than the highs.”

CNBC reported that “2022 has been a dangerous time to retire,” the sequence of returns risk is acute for those who’ve just retired, and withdrawing money from investments declining in value stresses the longevity of their nest egg.

For your own retirement, you need to know if you have enough money in your portfolio to retire. Is there enough extra money to cover your costs? If you have enough, plus some, you are ready to retire.

If you don’t have any extra cushion, you could reduce your spending, structure where your withdrawals come from or delay your Social Security. Every year you delay, you get an 8% increase.

Listen to more of our conversation in the podcast or use the timestamps below to jump to a specific section.

Use the timestamps below to jump to a specific section. 

[3:10] – Business Insider article

[6:00] – CNBC and USA Today articles

[13:14] – Income gap

[18:31] – Extra money

[23:25] – Structuring withdrawals

[26:24] – Delaying Social Security

[29:14] – Recap

Thanks for checking out this episode. We’ll talk to you again soon.

 

“Remember, it’s the long-term focus that helps us toward our financial success.”

-Scott Sierens