Robert published this in March 2026, with the S&P 500 down about 5% for the year. His point holds in any decline: stay invested and do not try to time the bottom, which works when your income plan covers monthly spending without selling stocks at a loss. Savers who are contributing buy at lower prices.
What was happening when Robert recorded this?
He published it on March 25, 2026. At the time, by his account, the S&P 500 was down about 5% for the year, every major U.S. index had turned negative for 2026, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies had fallen 10% from its recent high, into correction territory. If you checked your retirement account in those weeks, the balance was likely lower than on January 1. The figures are his, from that week, and markets have moved since.
How should you look at a decline like that?
Robert quotes Warren Buffett’s line from his October 2008 New York Times op-ed: “If you wait for the robins, spring will be over.” Markets have tended to move higher before the news improves, before sentiment turns and before the headlines stop being frightening. Waiting for a conflict to resolve, oil prices to fall and the Fed to cut rates before you feel safe has meant missing much of the recovery in past cycles. He also pointed to the data behind that week’s headlines: in his figures, U.S. stocks had fallen 2.8% since the conflict with Iran began, against an 8% fall in global markets.
What do long-term investors do in a decline?
They do not panic, move to cash or try to time the bottom. They ask whether their plan is structured well enough to stay invested through the drop, and to take advantage of lower prices, without disrupting their income. For anyone contributing to a 401(k) or an IRA, buying after a decline means more shares for the same dollars than buying at January’s highs.
What protects retirees in a down market?
An income structure solid enough that you do not have to sell at the lows to meet monthly expenses. That protection is what lets you stay invested through volatility and be invested when a recovery comes. Selling to fund spending in a down year is the core of sequence of returns risk: the shares you sell at the bottom are gone before prices recover.
Robert describes the structure his team builds as layered and personal, set by your timeline, your costs and your risk tolerance, and he is clear that no single product or strategy provides it. Clients who walk through it in a market like this one react with relief, he says, at how solid it is. If you want to know whether your own plan would hold in a decline, his 30-minute retirement clarity call is where to test it. This page reflects his commentary at the time of recording and is not a forecast of what markets will do.
Common questions
- Should you move to cash when the market drops before retirement?
- Robert’s view is no. Markets have tended to recover before the headlines improve, so selling after a drop risks missing the rebound. The better protection is an income plan that covers your spending from sources you do not have to sell at a loss.
- What is a market correction?
- A fall of 10% or more from a recent high. At the time Robert recorded this video, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies had crossed that line while the S&P 500 was down about 5% for the year.
- How do you keep retirement income steady in a down market?
- By holding enough of the coming years’ spending in stable assets, pensions or other income that a decline does not force a sale of stocks at depressed prices. The structure depends on your timeline, your costs and the risk you can carry.
If the decisions on this page are ahead of you, the two of you can work through them with Robert Boeck before any of them becomes permanent.
Schedule Your Consultation