Last weekend, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on television and said people who wanted to retire right now were not paying attention to the stock market.
On the NBC program “Meet the Press,” referring to those who have “put away for years in their savings account,” he said the following: “I think they don’t look at the day-to-day fluctuations of what’s happening.”
Is that true? I asked readers of our Your Money newsletter who were on the cusp of retirement whether they were watching the markets and, if so, why?
About 400 people replied. More than 90 percent of them said they were looking. They gave me an earful.
***
“I have Parkinson’s disease and am unable to work in any capacity. Naturally, I closely watch how the market performs on a daily basis.”
— Nancy London, Plain City, Ohio
“I don’t concern myself with normal market fluctuations, but what’s going on right now is anything but normal. So, yes, I am looking.” — Edward M. Kenny, Brooklyn, N.Y.
“They have no idea how ordinary people live.” — Barbara Costanzo, Milwaukee
“Of course, I am watching. I am disheartened that he and President Trump seem to be treating my hard-earned savings in such a cavalier manner.” — Cleo LaRue, League City, Texas
***
The word “cavalier” was the adjective that came up most in emails from readers, and Ms. Costanzo’s sentiment — that people in the Trump administration were out of touch — was common.
President Trump is not the first person to appoint someone like Mr. Bessent — a former hedge fund manager who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars — to run the Treasury Department. When Bill Clinton was president, he put Robert E. Rubin, a former Goldman Sachs banker, in charge.
But when you’re someone like that doing work like this, it behooves you to have some empathy — or at least sympathy — for the struggles of others.
“Secretary Bessent is highly engaged in financial literacy and encourages all Americans to invest for the long term,” according to a Treasury spokesperson. He has spoken in the past of having started work at age 9 when his father fell on hard times.
***
“We are definitely looking at the fluctuations, and likely adding time to our ‘need to work’ timeline. Mr. Bessent is mistaken.” — Becky O’Hara, Havertown, Pa.
“I wanted to retire and still wait until 70 to collect Social Security, and that is a delicate balance if the value of my investments has dropped significantly.” — Karen Walrath, Beaverton, Ore.
“If I’m faced with retirement from the federal work force now and re-entering the job market at age 59¼, I’m going to have to take a very, very different approach to finances. How the market behaves right now can potentially have catastrophic impacts for me.” — Sue Zwicker, Greenbelt, Md.
“I do take a few moments most days to check the markets, mainly out of curiosity, but also to see if I need to rebalance.” — Jeff Schmierer, Brookfield, Conn.
“I just retired 18 months ago, and sequence risk is by far the financial issue I worry about the most.” — Dennis Scholl, Miami Beach
***
So about that “sequence risk” thing: All it means is that if you start your retirement when markets are falling, you may be selling assets as your overall portfolio is declining. And when that balance falls (both from market declines and selling assets to pay for everyday spending once you’re not working), it leaves you with less money that could benefit from eventual market recoveries. All of that increases the chances that you’ll run out of money before you die.
It’s a big deal — big enough that someone running the Treasury Department would presumably consider it when suggesting that recent retirees aren’t carefully watching their “savings accounts,” which readers took to mean retirement accounts.
“Bessent is supposed to be a smart guy, so I doubt that he believes what he is saying,” writes Douglas Frazier of Savannah, Ga.
When you have to stand up in public and defend a stock market decline that your boss — the president, who likes firing people — caused, it may indeed be hard to believe everything you may be forced to say.
But that doesn’t excuse ignoring questions that many people on the cusp of retirement must consider — and how hard it is to answer them when people have retirement “savings” accounts that include stocks.
Mr. Bessent is correct that at least some people don’t look each day — it was under 10 percent of my 400 correspondents.
***
“Why look and make myself sick? We have an investment plan. I’ll stick to it and keep working a while longer. I like my job. Looking will hurt my head. Working lets me do something positive.” — Teresa Meinders Burkett, Tulsa, Okla.
“We don’t check day-to-day fluctuations. It’s too frustrating and scary, and at this point there’s nothing we can do about it.” — Mindy Evanter, Marblehead, Mass.
“I do not look at my portfolio daily, but I certainly monitor the market and, like most others over 60, am alarmed by the market response to the Trump tariffs. Secretary Bessent’s comments may have made sense historically, but when the administration takes actions that impact the global economy and lead to great uncertainty, investors become concerned.” — Patrick Grum, Atlanta
***
In a perfect world, you’ve done everything right while getting ready for retirement.
You’ve had good jobs when you wanted them and luck with your health along the way. You’ve saved more than what you need to pay for a 30-year retirement. You have several years of money stashed someplace safe to use while waiting out a sizable stock market downturn. You have the fortitude to not panic-sell — or panic-buy — investments at the wrong time.
But most people are not that lucky or are prone to worry that their luck will run out right when they want to stop working. For now, some of those people have at least managed to maintain their senses of humor.
***
“Yes, I am checking. It’s a compulsive behavior right now, though I haven’t looked yet today. Why, I do not know. Please, no tariffs on Xanax.” — Jene Teague, Austin, Texas
“Fluctuations look like this: WWWWWWW.
I don’t pay much attention.
What’s happening now is not a fluctuation.
It looks like this:
I am paying attention.” — Lynne Carmichael, San Anselmo, Calif.
Ron Lieber has been the Your Money columnist since 2008 and has written five books, most recently “The Price You Pay for College.”
The post The Treasury Secretary Is Wrong About How Most Retirees See the Stock Market appeared first on New York Times.
