NEW YORK — Michael Montgomery used to check the balance on his retirement account once a week and smile. But lately, not wanting to get upset and question if he could retire in a few years, there was only one solution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not looking,\u201d says the 66-year-old professor from Huntington Woods, Michigan.<\/p>\n
As the White House simultaneously injects turmoil into financial markets with its trade war<\/a> and dismisses fears of a downturn, retired and near-retired Americans are anxiously looking on, worried about outliving their savings or having to put off entries on their bucket lists.<\/p>\n Keeping logged off his account has made Montgomery\u2019s days less worrisome. He and his wife adjusted their portfolio after Election Day, including moving more money into bonds. But he\u2019s not sure what more he can do if the entire world economy can be affected by Washington\u2019s decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope like hell I don\u2019t lose all my retirement savings,\u201d he says. \u201cBut where else could you put the money that these people could not disorder? They can\u2019t get into your mattress but that\u2019s about it.\u201d<\/p>\n Many experts warned U.S. stocks were overpriced and due for a correction even before President Donald Trump reclaimed the Oval Office. But a historic blanket of tariffs have injected new uncertainty into the market.<\/p>\n Though stocks rallied this week<\/a>, the S&P 500 is down 10% from an all-time high reached in February. Losses in the Nasdaq and among small-cap stocks are steeper. Even bonds<\/a> and the U.S. dollar<\/a> have been volatile. Many economists are warning of a possible recession.<\/p>\n It has 71-year-old Jeanne Oats Estridge feeling so \u201cparanoid\u201d she called her financial planner with an idea.<\/p>\n \u201cHow about we put it all in cash?\u201d Oats Estridge asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI just don\u2019t advise it,\u201d she heard back.<\/p>\n Oats Estridge, who lives in Dayton, Ohio, retired from a job in software engineering and now writes books, including her latest, on four octogenarian women kidnapped by sex-trafficking aliens. Her account is down more than $40,000 and she gets angry thinking about how some in Washington have reacted to the market volatility, including Trump\u2019s recent market assessment that it was \u201ca great time to buy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhere am I supposed to come up with the money to buy? My underwear drawer?\u201d Oats Estridge asks. <\/p>\n Earlier this month, the Cboe Volatility Index, considered a \u201cfear gauge\u201d of investor pessimism<\/a>, reached its highest level in five years. The index, known as VIX, has since retreated but is still in territory reflecting fearful investors. Another measure of market sentiment, the Cboe S&P 500 Left Tail Volatility Index, which tracks investor worry about so-called \u201cblack swan\u201d events<\/a> such as the 2008 housing crash that spurred the Great Recession, likewise has backed off from highs but remains elevated.<\/p>\n Trump has urged people to \u201cbe cool\u201d<\/a> in assessing the impact of tariffs on their investments. Asked about his own savings earlier this month, he chuckled and replied: \u201cI haven\u2019t checked my 401(k).\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meantime, brushed off the possibility that some might need to delay retiring, saying people \u201cdon\u2019t look at the day-to-day fluctuations of what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n That seeming nonchalance isn\u2019t sitting well with some older investors.<\/p>\n Peter Rost, 72, retired from his software development job last year and planned to start tapping his retirement savings to supplement Social Security. But he doesn\u2019t want to bake in his losses.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking to take $2,000 and meanwhile the account drops by $30,000,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n He\u2019s been through serious downturns before, but those were different.<\/p>\n \u201cI had the time to be patient and let it work its way back,\u201d says Rost, who lives in New Hartford, Connecticut, \u201cbut now I\u2019m retired and I need money from that account.\u201d<\/p>\n At his age, he says, there\u2019s one goal: \u201cMake sure I don\u2019t run out of money before I die.\u201d<\/p>\n Americans\u2019 retirement savings totaled about $44 trillion at the end of 2024, according to the Investment Company Institute. The composition of those savings has shifted increasingly toward stocks in the last couple decades as the 401(k) has become employers\u2019 typical offering. <\/p>\n Among fund giant Vanguard\u2019s nearly 5 million accounts, for example, the average investor puts three-quarters of their savings in stocks. Even older investors are still heavily steeped in equities: People 55 to 64 have 64% in stocks at Vanguard; those 65 and older have 49% in stocks.<\/p>\n With that exposure, financial advisers are getting an influx of calls amid the recent market uncertainty.<\/p>\n Tj Binkowski, who runs Narrow Road Financial Planning in Clarksville, Tennessee, says some clients find themselves obsessively checking their accounts and feel the emotional strain of worrying about their money. A downturn, he says, hits an older investor much differently.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you\u2019re retired, paper losses aren\u2019t just on paper anymore,\u201d says Binkowski. \u201cYou\u2019re locking them in every month that you take money out.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul Duesterhaus, a 68-year-old retiree from Quincy, Illinois, is passing up an IRA withdrawal this year to avoid selling at a low. Instead, the retired manager at an air compressor manufacturing company will put off buying a new car as planned and cut back on things like eating out. <\/p>\n Still, he can\u2019t help but feel bigger impacts of a trade war are ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s going to be longer lasting effects that are going to affect every American,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n