5 Ways Retirees Can Play Defense With Retirement Portfolios

All this market volatility might unnerve investors of any age—but particularly those just entering retirement.

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All this market volatility might unnerve investors of any age—but particularly those just entering retirement. If new retirees get socked by steep market declines, they may be forced to pull spending money from shrinking portfolios—locking in losses and slashing the odds that their money will last a lifetime.

Combine that with retirees’ reluctance to spend from their portfolios even in the best of times, and it’s easy to see the financial anxieties compounding for those just entering retirement. Many retirees anchor to their portfolio value at retirement “and get really nervous when that balance goes down,” says Judith Ward, senior financial planner at T. Rowe Price.

While market swings may leave you feeling powerless, “times of uncertainty and volatility remind us to focus on the things we can control,” Ward says, such as your investment mix and spending rate. Here are five ways to maintain control of your retirement security, no matter what the markets throw at you.

Eleanor Laise
Senior Editor, Kiplinger's Retirement Report
Laise covers retirement issues ranging from income investing and pension plans to long-term care and estate planning. She joined Kiplinger in 2011 from the Wall Street Journal, where as a staff reporter she covered mutual funds, retirement plans and other personal finance topics. Laise was previously a senior writer at SmartMoney magazine. She started her journalism career at Bloomberg Personal Finance magazine and holds a BA in English from Columbia University.