Ep.359 The Hidden Risk That Wrecks Retirement Plans

Most people think retirement success is about one number: how much you saved.
 But many plans fail for a quieter reason—sequence of returns risk.

Average returns don’t protect you from bad timing. If the market drops hard in the first years of retirement, you still need cash to live. That forces you to sell investments at the worst possible moment. Even if markets recover later, the damage is already done because your capital is gone.

This is why timing matters more at the start than the average over decades.

The fix is simple and unglamorous: build a buffer. Keep two to three years of living expenses in safe, liquid cash before you retire. If markets fall early, you spend the buffer and give your portfolio time to recover.

Retirement isn’t just about returns. It’s about resilience.

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