American investors are riding a stock-market rollercoaster and it’s unclear if this one has brakes. Retirement balances plummeted with President Trump’s April 2 announcement of “reciprocal tariffs,” after weeks of volatility, and it’s been bumpy ever since. A historic rally April 9, spurred by a 90-day reprieve for the tariffs, was followed by a big dip April 10, and no one knows what the coming weeks will bring.
Despite the market swings, policy flips and head-spinning headlines, financial advisors tell us most of their clients are pretty calm.
This sense of calmness, even among pre-retirees and new retirees — the investors often said to be hit hardest by market declines — is largely because of efforts their advisors have taken to stay ahead of the curve. Any curve.
The small number of clients who have reached out in recent days, for reassurance their plans remain safe, have regained confidence when shown their big picture.
‘Will I Still Be OK?’
Ben Loughery (pronounced Lockery), CFP, founder and principal of Lock Wealth Management in Atlanta, says that when he spoke with a pre-retiree after the April 2 meltdown, “the conversation centered around, ‘Will I still be OK if the market keeps moving down?’ There was this sense of ‘I’ve made it this far but what if everything changes now?’”
He reminded this client that they’ve already built flexibility into their investment plan. “Their income is not coming 100% from market-based withdrawals and we have a set number of years’ safety net of short-term bonds along with Social Security factored in conservatively that we pull from,” says Loughery. This pre-retiree is also receiving some pension income that is fixed.
He showed the client that her plan still works, even after stress-tested scenarios. “The visual reassurance that she saw allows her to keep her emotions in check,” he says.
Loughery likes showing all clients near retirement or in retirement how adaptable their retirement income plan can be, he says. The tools he uses allow him to simulate dynamic withdrawal strategies, adjusting for market returns, inflation, spending changes and life expectancy, in real time, Loughery says. “This helps clients see that retirement doesn’t necessarily have to be a static path.”
“If the market does dip as it has in the last few months, or life takes a turn in some way, we can course correct with data, not fear.”
— Ben Loughery, Lock Wealth Management
“If the market does dip as it has in the last few months, or life takes a turn in some way, we can course correct with data, not fear,” he says. “I believe this gives clients peace of mind because we’re not just building a plan, we’re managing it with them year by year.”
“This shifts the mindset from ‘Do I have enough?’ to ‘How do we make this work through all seasons?’” says Loughery.
Reaching Out to Recent Retirees
Laura K Rhoades, CFP, of Savant Wealth Management in Birmingham, Ala., works with many retired and soon-to-retire clients. “Prior to retirement, we spend a lot of time planning for a variety of scenarios, including market volatility,” she says.
She encourages clients to build a minimum cash reserve outside their investment portfolio to cover at least six months of their expenses. This is primarily for unexpected, emergency expenses. It’s not designed to cover a long-term-care event, which she helps clients evaluate and plan for separately.
After determining how much income clients need annually from their portfolio to meet their financial goals, Rhoades ensures they set aside at least five years of anticipated distributions in a diversified fixed-income portfolio.
“When the market declines, I can remind both pre-retirees and retirees that they are not being forced to sell their equities at a discount because we have already set aside their needed income,” she says. “It provides the patience and peace of mind to hold tight through market drops because we have planned for these moments.”
None of Rhoades’ clients have recently reached out about the market, but she called and spoke with those who retired at year-end “to see what questions they have regarding the current volatility, provide a listening ear to their concerns, and then offer reassurance regarding the plan we have in place,” she says. “Each conversation was a little different since each situation is unique.”
Revisiting Sequence Risk
When one of these client couples retired, Rhoades helped them plan to delay collecting Social Security. Their portfolio could provide their income needs and the delay would allow their Social Security benefits to continue to grow.
“However, we also noted that if the market declined, it may make sense to begin Social Security for one of them, reducing the need from the portfolio,” says Rhoades. “The goal would be to reduce sequence-of-returns risk.”
She had explained that negative investment returns early in retirement can have a greater impact on the long-term outcome, and that “by starting income from a difference source, you give the portfolio a chance to recover,” says Rhoades says. “Given the recent volatility, the clients re-visited this topic during our call.”
During a few conversations with other clients, Rhoades has discussed the recent volatility as a buying opportunity and how it can potentially be used to rebalance portfolios to the client’s target allocation.
Hold Tight
Rhoades also recently spoke with some clients who retired three or more years ago, only to face the 2022 bear market and/or the Covid market. “We were able to talk about how they have been here before, and although each market decline is preceded by something different (rising interest rates, global shutdown, and now tariffs), the best course of action has been to hold tight, because markets go back up at some point,” she says.
Some of Rhoades’ clients have asked about the future of Social Security, Medicare and rising prices. “In some cases, we have created planning scenarios around those concerns and addressed their situation specifically,” she says.
She has also told clients, “Diversification remains one of your best tools in the face of many unknowns. This is applicable not only to your portfolio but could also be applied to account tax-types and income sources,” she says.
Building Client Confidence Through Education
Bridget Grimes, CFP, president of WealthChoice, a boutique financial life planning firm for women executives, and co-founder of Equita Financial Network for women-led financial planning firms, says only one client has recently reached out to ask what steps the firm is taking to navigate the unrest in the market.
The client joined WealthChoice during the unrest of Covid in 2020. The firm created a financial plan for her, that included a diversified portfolio, and that portfolio has performed very well, says Grimes. “We meet frequently and have made adjustments to her portfolio as life events required.”
During this most recent conversation, “essentially, she wanted to know if her portfolio was going to be OK,” says Grimes. “She had read articles in the media that were predicting doom and gloom now and into the future.”
Grimes reminded the client that her portfolio is very diversified and positioned to withstand the market volatility. “We also discussed how inflammatory media is click bait,” she says, and “we shared data on how analysts who have ‘predicted’ the market and the economy have largely been wrong.” Additionally, “we talked about our investment philosophy, the dangers of trying to time the market, the values of diversification,” says Grimes. “In the end, she felt a sense of peace.”
Staying Ahead Through Communications
It’s not surprising Grimes hasn’t heard from other clients. “We’ve been very proactive with communication since the tariff talks started,” she says. When the S&P 500 hit a six-month low in March, she jumped in front of her clients by co-hosting an educational Q&A webinar with Mario Nardone, CFA, Equita’s outsourced chief investment officer.
“We have been here before. It may have looked a little different, a different package, but how we handle any sort of market volatility hasn’t really changed,” Grimes told attendees. Her goal, she told them, is for them to be able to say, “I have a plan, I have folks who have a strategy that I feel comfortable with, and I know this is going to be OK.” Nardone explained slides of historic financial data.
Grimes included a link to that webinar, along with updates about the tariffs and the market, in her April 2025 newsletter, which she distributes to all WealthChoice clients, friends and prospects.
Critical Timing
Clients within five years of retirement or five years into retirement “definitely have a lot at stake [when markets are volatile] given that their source of income has transferred, for the most part, to their portfolio — at least in our clients’ case,” says Grimes. She addresses clients’ allocations as they approach retirement, so they are best positioned for their particular situation, and adjusts during retirement as needed.
At this time, she is not making changes to client’s portfolios. “Our models are diversified globally and have served us well through market challenges over the years,” she says. “If there is an opportunity, we will harvest losses for taxes, but as of now our clients didn’t have measurable losses for us to harvest.”
Grimes’ client portfolios hold 1% to 1 ½% in cash, and her firm is not adding to this cash position. “Clients in retirement might have a larger cash position, but we don’t consider cash an investment vehicle,” she adds.
Minor Adjustments Only
Advisor John R. Power, who runs Power Plans in Walpole, Mass., hasn’t changed his approach to portfolio diversification “except for minor adjustments to positions in foreign equities, which may be less impacted than U.S. firms by the U.S tariff posture,” he says. “Otherwise, historic performance is the rule I follow — not some guess about what will happen today or tomorrow.”
For clients five years out from retiring, “I suggest building their cash position to ride our market bumps,” says Power. “For those already retired I suggest looking for cash inside their portfolios and using that to recover.” And since recovery often takes a couple of years, he recommends that clients have three years of needs above guaranteed income, such as annuities or Social Security.
Don’t Miss the ‘Up Days’
Crystal McKeon, CFP, of TSA Wealth Management in Houston, also reminds clients to look at investments through a longer-term lens.
“Our stock investments are not for today, tomorrow or even next year, and day-to-day fluctuations don’t change our long-term investment strategy.”
— Crystal McKeon, TSA Wealth Management
“Our stock investments are not for today, tomorrow or even next year, and day-to-day fluctuations don’t change our long-term investment strategy,” she says. “Our stocks are part of our portfolio for the next 10, 20 or 30 years.”
“There have been many investing sentiments over the years but we have embraced the idea that there is no way to effectively time the markets,” adds McKeon. “When you look at single-day returns, the days with the biggest losses are very likely to be followed by days with the biggest returns. If you attempt to miss the down days by not being invested, you will likely miss the up days too.”
She reminds clients that “market fluctuations are normal and a part of being a stock investor,” she says. She also helps them understand that diversifying portfolios enables them to invest according to their risk tolerance and long-term goals. She believes “any funds that will be needed within the next five years should not be invested in the stock market,” she says, because “we do not want to be forced to sell at a loss when the funds are needed.”
Rhoades, of Savant Wealth Management, also reminds clients that people are resilient. “Throughout history, in the face of adversity, individuals have found ways to adapt and survive,” she says. “Our institutions and our investments are ultimately composed of people who rise to the occasion.”
Jerilyn Klein is editorial director of Rethinking65.
