VTI YTD is 15%

[disneysteve]

I'm very worried for my parents. They're almost 80 and I found out last week they are very heavily invested in stocks. Needless to say, they may not have the time for their portfolio to recover, and they live off it. We don't talk money in my family, but we sure as heck do now! And their advisor is getting fired.

That may or may not be a bad thing. Do either of them have a pension? What % of their living expenses is covered by SS? How many months or years of spending do they have in cash/CDs/bonds? If they aren't depending on selling off shares to pay their bills, the short term performance of the market may not affect them at all. A lot of retirees maintain a high equity allocation because they just don't need that money and they are letting it grow to provide a bigger legacy after they're gone.

[ua_guy]

I'm very worried for my parents. They're almost 80 and I found out last week they are very heavily invested in stocks. Needless to say, they may not have the time for their portfolio to recover, and they live off it. We don't talk money in my family, but we sure as heck do now! And their advisor is getting fired.

[disneysteve]

Seems like people on the cusp of retirement would have (or should have) pivoted into less risky assets by now.

Not really, especially if retiring "early". I retired last year at 59. If all goes well, I could live another 30 years or more. My mom is nearly 95. With a 30-year timeline, you still need to have a substantial stake in equities to stay ahead of inflation over the coming decades. We were right around 60% stocks prior to the past few days. Now we're at 54% thanks to the tariff disaster but it will eventually recover.

As for SORR, we also have about 10 years of spending in cash, CDs, and Treasuries, so we have plenty of money to wait for this mess to be gone in 4 years.

[james.hendrickson]

Seems like people on the cusp of retirement would have (or should have) pivoted into less risky assets by now.
My stepdad dramatically decreased his exposure to equities as he approached retirement a year or so ago.

Correct - this is what bonds and gold are for.

[bjl584]

Seems like people on the cusp of retirement would have (or should have) pivoted into less risky assets by now.
My stepdad dramatically decreased his exposure to equities as he approached retirement a year or so ago.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Well i'm down 15% YTD and so is my mom. It is a very large hit. I would not want to be in the midst of retiring. This is SORR. How's it going? I figured people might decide pain is bad when it hits 30%? How long until you think people turn and say enouogh?