Bear Market Hitting Your Retirement Plans? Here's What Actually Matters

Seeing your portfolio drop 20%+ is brutal, but panic-selling might be worse. Real talk: since 1928, there have been 27 bear markets—and 28 bull markets. The math checks out.

Here’s the kicker—42% of the S&P 500’s best days happened during bear markets. Miss the top 10 trading days in 30 years? Your returns get cut in half. Miss 30 days? Down 83%. Ouch.

Bear markets average 9.6 months. Bull markets? 2.7 years. You do the math on which one matters more.

If you’re retiring soon, stop trying to time it—nobody can. Instead: build a cash buffer for living expenses so you don’t liquidate stocks when they’re tanking. That way your portfolio stays intact to recover when the market bounces back.

Yes, you’ll probably see multiple bear markets in retirement. That’s normal. That’s also why panic moves usually backfire.