The Treasury Secretary Is Wrong About How Most Retirees See the Stock Market

Last weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Beesent went on television and said that people who wanted to retire at this moment did not pay attention to the stock market.

On the NBC “programMeet the press“Referring to those who have” put away for years in their savings account, “the following said:” I think they don’t look at the daily fluctuations of what is happening “.

It is true? I asked the readers of ours Your money newsletter Who were on the retirement cusp if they were looking at the markets and, in this case, why?

About 400 people replied. More than 90 percent of them said he was watching. They gave me an ear.

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“I have Parkinson’s disease and I can’t work in any way. Of course, I look closely how the market behaves daily.”
– Nancy London, Plain City, Ohio

“I don’t worry about normal market fluctuations, but what is happening right now is far from normal. So, yes, I’m looking for.” – Edward M. Kenny, Brooklyn, NY

“They have no idea how ordinary people live.” – Barbara Costanzo, Milwaukee

“Of course, I’m looking at. I am discouraged by the fact that he and President Trump seem to take care of my savings earned hard in such a bad way.” – Cleo Larue, League City, Texas

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The word “cavalier” was the adjective that emerged most in the and -mail of readers and the feeling of Mrs. Costanzo – that people in the Trump administration were out of the world – was common.

President Trump is not the first person to appoint someone like Mr. Beesent, a former director of Hedge Fund that is worth that hundreds of millions of dollars – To manage the Treasury Department. When Bill Clinton was president, he put Robert E. Rubin in office, former Goldman Sachs banker.

But when you are someone like that you do a job in this way, it allows you to have a little empathy – or at least sympathy – for the struggles of others.

“Secretary Beesent is strongly engaged in financial literacy and encourages all Americans to invest in the long term”, according to a treasure spokesperson. Him He talked In the past he started working at the age of 9 when his father fell in difficult times.

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“We are definitely looking at fluctuations and probably adding time to our time sequence” need to work “. Mr. Bessent is wrong.” – Becky O’Hara, Havertown, Pennsylvania.

“I wanted to retire and still wait up to 70 to collect social security, and this is a delicate balance if the value of my investments has significantly decreased.” – Karen Walrath, Beaverton, hours.

“If I find myself faced with retirement from the federal workforce now and return to the labor market at the age of 59ally, I will have to adopt a very, very different approach to finances. How the market behaves right now can potentially have catastrophic impacts for me.” – His Zwicker, Greenbelt, md.

“I take a few moments for most of the days to check the markets, mainly out of curiosity, but also to see if I need to rebalance.” – Jeff Schmierer, Brookfield, Conn.

“I just withdrawn 18 months ago and the risk of sequence is by far the financial problem that I worry most about.” – Dennis Scholl, Miami Beach

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So in this regard “Risk of sequence“What: everything that means is that if you start the pension when the markets fall, you could sell goods since your overall portfolio is decreasing. And when this balance decreases (both from the drop in the market and from the sale of goods to pay daily expenditure once they do not work)

It is a big problem – great enough that someone who manages the Treasury Department would presumably consider him when suggesting that recent retirees are not carefully looking at their “savings accounts”, which readers have taken pension accounts.

“Bessent should be an intelligent boy, so I doubt he believes what he’s saying,” writes Douglas Frazier of Savannah, GA.

When you have to get up in public and defend a decline in the stock market that your boss – the president, who like to shoot people – caused, could really be difficult to believe that everything you could be forced to say.

But this is not sorry to ignore the questions that many people on the pension cusp must consider – and how difficult it is to answer when people have accounts of retired “saving” that include actions.

Mr. Beesent is right that at least some people do not look every day – he was less than 10 percent of my 400 correspondents.

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“Why seem and get sick? We have an investment plan. He landed and continues to work longer. I like my job. Look will hurt me. The job allows me to do something positive.” – Teresa Meinders Burkett, Tulsa, Okla.

“We do not control daily fluctuations. It is too frustrating and frightening, and this point there is nothing we can do about it.” – Mindy Evantr, Marblehead, Mass.

“I do not look at my portfolio daily, but certainly monitor the market and, like most of the others over 60, I am alarmed by the market response to Trump rates. The comments of secretary Beesent may have had a historically made sense, but when the administration undertakes actions that affect the global economy and lead to great uncertainty, the investors care.” – Patrick Grum, Atlanta

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In a perfect world, you did everything well while preparing me for retirement.

You had good jobs when you wanted them and luck for your health along the road. You have saved more than you have to pay for a 30 -year pension. You have several years of money hidden somewhere safely to use while waiting for a considerable recession of the share market. You have the strength not to be panic-o panic-green-investigations at the wrong time.

But most people are not so lucky or it is prone to worry that their fortune runs out when they want to stop working. For now, some of these people have at least managed to maintain their senses of humor.

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“Yes, I am checking. It is a compulsive behavior right now, even if I haven’t looked yet today. Because, I don’t know. Please, no fare on Xanax.” – Jene Teague, Austin, Texas

“Fluctuations seem like this: wwwwwww.

I don’t pay close attention.

What is happening now is not a fluctuation.

It seems this:

I am paying attention. ” – Lynne Carmichael, San Anselmo, California.