Retiring Into a Bear Market: A Survival Guide

Few moments test a retirement plan like watching your portfolio drop 25% the month before your retirement party. The instinct to "wait it out" is strong — and usually not the best response.

First, breathe — then check the levers

There are exactly four things you can change:

1. How much you spend
2. How much guaranteed income you have
3. How much you withdraw from the portfolio
4. How long you keep working (full or part-time)

Almost every successful response uses two or three of these — never just one.

Tactics that tend to help

• Spend from cash and bonds first. If you built a 2-year cushion, this is exactly the moment it was for.
• Pause Roth conversions if they were tied to a higher portfolio value.
• Delay Social Security if you can — every year of delay still adds 8%.
• Consider part-time work for 1–2 years. Even modest income dramatically improves plan survival.

Tactics that backfire

• Selling stocks "until things calm down."
• Reaching for yield in unfamiliar products.
• Slashing all spending permanently when the issue is temporary.

A bear market doesn't end a retirement. A panicked reaction can.

The mindset shift

Retirement isn't a switch you flip — it's a transition you manage. People who do this well treat the first five years as a flexible runway, not a fixed date on a calendar.