Retirement Now Newsletter 3-10-2022
We’ve had to institute a new rule in the ol’ Hammond house.
And that is don’t mess with Momma’s timer.
And that applies not just to “Momma” but to whoever is the one doing the cooking.
A little explanation…
You’re cooking something and set the timer for when to take it out of the oven. Then you go do another chore, the timer goes off, and instead of someone coming and telling you there’s a timer going off in the kitchen, they instead turn the timer off themselves, and then holler out “timer went off!”
If you’re at the other end of the house you probably won’t hear them.
That’s when the broccoli gets burned.
It sabotages dinner, unintentionally.
Which is like what a lot of people do with their retirements, unintentionally.
2022 has been a roller coaster for investors thus far. And mostly going in the downward direction. The S&P 500 is down about 10% as of writing this. Oil is going up. You can see it at the pumps. It’s over $4.00 in my town, and some higher cost of living areas it’s well beyond that. Russia has invaded the Ukraine, right around the time that we thought supply chain disruptions would be going away due to lifting of Corona Virus restrictions. And these supply chain issues contribute to higher prices, as can be seen in the new and used car market for one.
Which I can attest to when I had my Forerunner in the body shop, they had difficulty getting the parts in to fix where the deer hit it.
There’s plenty to be worried about for a retiree, or even someone that is close to retirement.
That is if they don’t have a plan in place.
All this excitement can cause a person to make some big investing mistakes with their portfolio.
That’s the reason I help my clients put a plan in place for their retirement. What type of investing is suitable for them? What type of growth do they need to fund their retirement? Where will they pull funds from during down markets to live on? Do they have access to assets that have not temporarily gone down in the market, that they can withdraw from for their expenses… to help avoid selling their stocks at a low point?
I help my clients answer these questions so they can have more peace of mind about their retirement.
This doesn’t mean it’s not scary to see your portfolio gyrate in the market. Everyone worries about that to a certain extent.
It just means you have a plan and an advisor that you can talk with to go over what steps if any need to be taken.
Which can be really important when you are in a time period that is showing increasing prices, while at the same time the asset class that has done best long-term with outpacing inflation (I’m referring to stocks) is also down. The combination of those two can cause people to make some investing mistakes that could have some serious long term consequences.
But you can’t invest any old way. And buying just the S&P 500 is not sufficient diversification.
And choosing from the thousands of investment options for your IRA can be daunting, especially if you are used to the limited choices available inside your 401k.
If you are feeling a little shaky about your investments given everything that’s happening in the world right now it might be time to talk with someone about it.
