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You see, the average bear market lasts about 14 months. Now if you were planning to retire in June 2020, you may need to come to terms with retiring in 2021. But you don’t necessarily need to resign yourself to delaying retirement by three years, five years, or more. It’s easy to look back to the Great Recession that lasted years as a benchmark of what extended downturns looks like, but remember, that was an extreme situation — not the norm. Furthermore, the current downturn we’re facing was fueled largely by COVID-19 fears and speculation. That’s a situation that may get worse before it gets better, but hopefully, once things calm down on that front, better news will help the market recover faster. (Of course, we don’t know how and when that situation will resolve, so recovery could be a bit longer, too.)
Another thing: When the market declines, you have a prime opportunity to buy up quality stocks on the cheap. Therefore, if you don’t retire within the…
