FYI: Meet Sam.
Sam’s entire family has terrible luck when it comes to the timing of their retirement.
Sam’s great-grandparents retired at the end of 1928. Over the ensuing three years or so the stock market would drop close to 90% while the U.S. economy would contract nearly 30% in the Great Depression. In 1937, the stock market would be cut in half and a couple of years later World War II would commence.
Sam’s grandparents didn’t fare much better, retiring at the tail end of 1972. This was right before a brutal bear market which would see stocks cut in half from 1973 to 1974. The purchasing power of their portfolio would also be ravaged by inflation, which would run at a rate of 121% over the first 9 years of their retirement (more than 9.2%/year). From 1973 to 1981, the S&P 500 would lose 33% of its value in real terms
Regards,
Ted
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2019/04/what-if-you-retire-at-a-stock-market-peak-2/
