Choppy Trump policies, stocks drop has some rethinking retirement plans

Reuters

18-03-2025

March 18 (Reuters) - Victor Fettes, 54, is going ahead with his long-planned retirement next Friday.
But the recent decline in the stock market and uncertainty over how U.S. President Donald Trump's policies will hit the economy have him rethinking how he'll spend it.
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'I'll say I'm nervous,' says Fettes, a senior director of risk management and compliance at Verizon, who has been preparing to leave the workforce by 55 ever since he and his wife got married and bought their first house.
He feels the Trump administration's rapid policy changes are causing problems in the government and the economy. He's concerned that Social Security and Medicare won't be there when he or his older relatives need them. And then there's the $70,000 that the stock-market drop erased from his and his wife's retirement savings since the start of the year.
'It's scary because as you see that start to dwindle... that's money you won't be able to count on later,' he says. He's postponing a trip to South Africa, and plans to meet with his financial advisor next week to decide whether to move into more conservative investments.
'My grandfather lived well into his 90s,' he says. 'So, you know, I'm like, okay, I've got to plan for the next 40 years. And do we have enough to make it for two of us through the next 40 years? That's concerning.'
More than $4 trillion in stock market value has evaporated since Trump took office less than two months ago, reducing the value of retirement fund accounts that many people nearing the end of their working lives have spent decades building.
Markets have been unnerved by Trump's leveling of steep tariffs on major trade partners China, Canada and Mexico and on key products like aluminum and steel. Those actions and threats of increased levies on other countries and products have ratcheted up expectations of a costly trade war that could fuel inflation and weigh on economic growth at the same time.
Mass firings of federal workers and cuts to government spending also are causing uneasiness, and recent surveys show business activity is cooling while consumers are pulling back on discretionary spending and have become increasingly worried that tariffs will mean rising prices.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Trump's policies on trade, taxes and deregulation will create a 'transition,' not a crisis, even as he said he could not rule out a recession.
All that uncertainty has complicated the path for people trying to prepare for retirement.
In late February, Emory University finance professor Tucker Balch changed up his retirement account, which had been 75% U.S. stocks. It's now 90% short-term bonds, with 5% in U.S. copper, steel and aluminum stocks he figures will benefit from Trump's tariffs, and 5% in Chinese stocks.
"If (tariffs) really do continue to roll out, there's no way that cannot lead to inflation," the 62-year-old said. He believes the Federal Reserve will have to keep interest rates high instead of cutting them to support a weakening economy.
"I'm just stepping off the escalator for a little while until we know for sure that we're back on an upward trend."
Fed policymakers meeting this week are expected to leave short-term borrowing costs in the current 4.25%-4.50% range as they take more time to assess how Trump's actions are impacting the economy.
Vicki Knight, a retired educator who teaches yoga part time to supplement her income from Social Security and her retirement fund, a mix of stocks, bonds and annuities, is worried.
"I would have thought by now, at age 70, I could comfortably begin withdrawing from my retirement and do things that I really would like to do, like travel and not work as much," she said.
"I feel like I might have to work more rather than less now, because the prices of things are going up so much, and it's just harder and harder just to make the money that I do make, including my Social Security income, stretch out to be enough to pay for my groceries, to pay for my mortgage, to pay for my electric and gas bill."