We measure the health of the economy as a whole in some big numbers. Gross domestic product, reported Thursday, fell for the second straight quarter. And the stock market that has been bouncing around for months. But for those working toward or dreaming of retirement, one of the most important numbers is proximity to home. It’s your own retirement savings. And the volatility of the big picture numbers is, of course, related to individual plans.
The New York Times wanted to know how this moment of uncertainty is affecting you and how you’re managing your retirement savings and investments.
Hundreds of you around the world have answered our questions. Some readers asked specific questions, such as when should I get Social Security. But others, like these six, offered a broader view of their personal situation and how they were trying to keep their composure.
A moment many feel a disconnect between the macro and the individual – A recent poll showed a general malaise about the economy among voters.
“I think it’s an opportunity to buy cheaply.”
Only now did Michael Lewis realize the value of having Vanguard founder John C. Bogle as his high school commencement speaker. At the time, Mr. Bogle’s influential investment advice to everyday Americans didn’t mean much to his teenaged Mr. Lewis, who now works as a director of marketing research at a tech company. But now, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and mother, he’s an avid Vanguard investor.
“It wasn’t until later that I realized the value,” said Lewis, 41, of Berkeley, Calif.
The recent market uncertainty hasn’t shaken him like the 2008 crisis did. He remembers his last mistake of selling a mutual fund at a loss.
“Basically, it was ‘do nothing,'” he said. “Actually, I’m not retiring anytime soon, so I see this as an opportunity to buy cheap.”
Lewis also doesn’t monitor retirement investments too closely, other than looking “at a very high level” to make sure accounts are in line with market performance and no fraudulent activity has occurred. Be careful.
“I think it will go up eventually,” he said, adding that he and his husband’s retirement savings are mostly invested in index funds.
Lewis hopes his retirement will be different from that of his parents and grandparents. He believes he will be working as a consultant into his seventies. “Think about it: You’re kind of at the pinnacle of knowledge in your career, and then you just stop,” he said.
An only child, he regularly discusses investments with his mother. “I benefited from starting to have some financial literacy,” he said. “And then there are those who ask questions and bombard ideas.”
Investor guide
The stock and bond market declines this year have been heartbreaking. And it remains difficult to predict what will happen in the future.
“I don’t want to gamble”
For Stefan Shaw, retirement doesn’t mean quitting the job. Instead, he believes that retiring will allow him to choose the projects he wants to work on most and feel rewarded.
“I want it to be a place where you don’t have to compromise on what you do or who you work with,” Shaw, 54, said. “And I’m getting really close to it.”
But Shaw, who lives in Munich and runs his own philanthropic consulting business, has calculated the minimum amount of savings he and his wife must maintain to support the scheme. The recent market volatility has also prompted Mr. Shaw to closely monitor his balances. He performs weekly calculations to rebalance the portfolio so that he and his wife can maintain their current standard of living even if the stock price falls another 50%. He describes this as making sure they’re still “green.” If not, cut your spending.
“In fact, I was approaching this breaking point with this 50% rule when the pandemic hit,” he said. “It didn’t look good.” At the time, 60% of his portfolio was stocks. When the market recovered, Shaw reallocated his stock to 50% weight.
“I know it leaves some possibilities out there, but I’d rather be on the safe side,” he said. “I don’t want to gamble.” He said he would get some income from his pension, but “it wouldn’t be much.”)
Shaw, who has worked in consulting and art advising, says he’s gained confidence knowing he’s lived on both fat and thin pay, so he and his wife can readjust if needed. said.
“Even if it hits us hard financially, we know there are ways to cope,” he said.
“Pinch your nose and work”
Dr. Melissa Yuan-Innes is a strong believer in the movement known as FIRE (Financial Independence, Early Retirement). An emergency room doctor in her 40s who lives in suburban Ottawa, she works more or less hours to deal with unpredictable situations.
Her hospital hours have fluctuated over the years and have helped her balance caring for her two children, now aged 16 and 11, and forging a separate career as a writer of medical thrillers. I’m here. The FIRE approach — which involves maintaining frugal habits and siphoning off as much cash as possible — means she and her husband, an engineer, can maintain their lifestyle. I work 10 to 20 hours a day, but plan to work more if needed.
“I had to rely on myself,” said Dr. Yuan-Innes. “I’m going to work with my nose pinched.”
Knowing you can get more work helps you stay away from market shifts, she said.
“I ignore them,” she said. “If you want more money, just make more money. I’d rather not do that, which is sad, but it’s certainly not as difficult as it is for people on minimum wage.”
She added: However, Dr. Yuan-Innes has confirmed that the bonds are declining in value and is considering selling them later.
She enthusiastically acknowledges her career. Dr. Yuan-Innes said: “Many financially independent types would say they are completely self-sufficient, unaware of the benefits they derive from white privilege, gender, middle-class status, education, government, or the sacrifice of relatives.
“Luckily enough money comes in to cover what goes out,” she said.
“We have a short memory”
Lifetime news junkie Leslie Westbrook clicked off her TV this spring when the stock market plummeted and all she saw was red.
She said it was stressful to watch Crawl on screen. Westbrook, 69, of Carpinteria, California, said: Method. “
Ms. Westbrook’s grandmother played a big part in getting her interested in investing. Her grandmother, who worked as an accountant in the wholesale produce industry in Los Angeles, invested her own money and encouraged her family to think long-term about finances, from her grandmother to young Leslie There was a Christmas present for Stock certificates of companies like Ford Motor Company and Safeway. Westbrook sold her childhood shares long ago, but her financial lessons remained, she said. Although she has an advisor who manages her retirement account, she says she enjoys trading her IRA for a small amount she inherited from a friend.
“I think of the stock market as a kind of legal gambling,” she said.
Ms. Westbrook’s income depends on a combination of Social Security, her income as a freelance travel writer, and her gig as an auction liaison. For her work, she draws on her background in art and antiques to commission special items for major auction houses. She earns a portion of her sales. She also volunteers, helping create a mural honoring her town’s Latino community.
“I’m a baby boomer, so you’re probably thinking, ‘How am I going to retire,'” she said. “If I knew when I was going to die, I would be better off.”
“There is still a dividend”
Steve Adams, 65, wants to retire from his software company near Charlotte, North Carolina within a few years to join his now-retired wife, Janet Wilson, 70. But as the stock market fluctuates, his full-time employment gives them a breather and an opportunity to invest in the downturn.
“The market has been ridiculously overinflated for the past few years and needs to pull back so it can self-correct,” Adams said. “This offers a pretty good buying opportunity.”
This ability to see the big picture is hard earned. Adams said he was “hit” during the 2008 financial crisis, which prompted them to work with financial advisers. Over the past 14 years, they’ve designed a portfolio with a dividend to cover the cost of living in retirement, he said.
“The stock has fallen, but the dividend is still there,” Adams said.
They also planned ahead of Janet’s retirement and paid off the mortgage on the house a few years ago.
“This is great because you have a safety net in case everything goes wrong. As long as the property market is doing well, you can always do things like reverse mortgages,” he said.
Adams is also buoyed by the health of his company. So far, he said, he has not seen the slowdown in earnings that was seen in 2008.
“My goal is to be able to retire at age 67 and have enough income a month,” he said. “He’ll be missing out on some big paychecks, but that’s the reality — I mean he could be dead in two years. I’d rather spend my time traveling. “
“How much time do you have left?”
Covid upended Irvin Schonfeld’s work life in 2020. He fell ill in his March of that year, and three of his people close to him died that spring. That belly punch affected him, and he retired about a year ago, leaving him a professor of psychology at his college and a graduate center at the City University of New York.
“I was thinking, ‘How much time is left?'” he said. “And it’s been so hard. I have to tell you, I’m still vague about being retired.”
Schonfeld, a 74-year-old Brooklyn resident, considers himself and his wife lucky to have a steady income from their pensions, so he isn’t too worried about market movements (no cost of living increase). But). However, he misses his beloved job and his colleagues and students who he enjoyed through a film club for classic film lovers he started. As such, he continues to engage in research and publication. A native New Yorker, he began writing a memoir about growing up in Glenwood, his house project.
Volatile markets are on the mind, but after experiencing the financial crisis, Professor Schoenfeld and his wife decided to save at least two years of living expenses in cash to weather the market downturn. . As the son of his parents who survived the Great Depression, maintaining stability was essential to his financial plans. His father was a postal worker and his mother a part-time saleswoman at the Abraham & Strauss department store.
“They were frugal. I went to Brooklyn University because it was free. I know what middle-class life is like,” he said.
Professor Schoenfeld vividly recalls New York’s fiscal pressures in the early 1990s, when the state cut his university’s budget and tenured professors lost their jobs.
“My kids were in grade school, so it was really scary,” he said. “I knew there was a bumpy road ahead, but the prosperity that followed during the Obama years never gave me the illusion that I was made of Teflon.”