Tldr: Don't panic sell your investments, be a buyer when others sell. You will likely live longer than you expect and should plan for it. Old people need a healthy dose of investment risk.
If there is a self-inflicted financial wound related to the debt ceiling in the USA in the next month or two, that is a buying opportunity not the end of the world.
As a reminder, the US markets dropped ~15% in less than a week in 2011 - the last time the debt ceiling was a crisis. The markets fell 7% in one day after the 2008 dysfunctional vote in congress to ignore the banking / financial sector crisis. The point being that these sorts of situations often lead to massive swings in market values as panic overwhelms the financial markets.
Long term investors shouldn't be panicked and simply ride the wave. Easy to say, "don't panic". Hard to keep cool when everyone seems to have lost their minds. Lots of people damage their self interest in such times.
From Warren Buffett on 05-06-2023 "What gives you opportunities is other people doing dumb things," Buffett said. "During the 58 years we've been running Berkshire, I would say there's been a great increase in the number of people doing dumb things — and they do big dumb things. "
Retirement is a long-term project. Most of us will live far longer than we expect. The average person at age 65 can be expected to live 18 more years (age 83). But the mere fact you are part of this discussion likely means your life expectancy skews to the longer end of the spectrum. Savey enough to take care of your physical health. Financially capable to pay for "preventative" health care. A couple should be assuming at least one of them will live past 90 and invest accordingly.
Conventional wisdom is "old people" should significantly moderate their investment risks. That might not be right for everybody. Expecting to live 20+ years means someone can safely invest pretty aggressively. Keep in mind there are hidden consequences for avoiding investment risk. You will be lucky to tread water after inflation and taxes when your portfolio is designed to minimize risks.
Both my wife and I are 65. We have an aggressive investment strategy - very roughly a third in equity market indexes, a third in long-term income-oriented securities, and the last third in real property / oil & gas interests. It is all pretty volatile, but the synergy of the portfolio works out pretty well. Still see regular swings in value in the six-figure range, but these average out. < exception is oil & gas, which can have astonishing swings in value that might not "average out" >
Be conservative in your spending and aggressive with your investments -=- DrStrange
Thanks Scott
I’m new to the ‘shit, I guess I have to retire sometime, wtf am I going to do ‘ crowd.
It’s amazing how much varied advice there is on all financial things
Keeping everything in perspective is difficult.