Wall Street turmoil rattles retirement savers, turning financial planners into therapists
Turmoil on Wall Street is keeping financial planners’ phones ringing as 401(k) holders watch their retirement account balances fall with the stock markets they’re tied to.
Turmoil on Wall Street is keeping financial planners’ phones ringing as 401(k) holders watch their retirement account balances fall with the stock markets they’re tied to. For the most part, they’re being told to sit tight and breathe through it.
“I’ve seen more concern and fear with clients that I’ve talked to over the last month or so than I have since the financial crisis,” said Jude Boudreaux, a senior financial planner at the Planning Center, a New Orleans-based firm. He added that this week has been especially hectic. “People are really concerned.”
Vanese Pitts said she watched her husband’s 401(k) shed $8,000 on Monday, when a wide-ranging market selloff pushed the S&P 500 to its lowest close since September. The sharp downturn in recent days followed several weeks of losses on Wall Street that have left the stock index about 4.8% lower than where it started the year. Many 401(k)s follow the broad-based S&P closely.
“It was just insane,” said the 41-year-old, who’s raising two kids alongside her husband, a software engineer, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Pitts was among those who took to social media platforms to crowdsource advice and commiserate this week, as President Donald Trump’s trade war with America’s closest allies sends tremors through millions of savers’ retirement investments. His chaotic rollout of new tariffs, the retaliatory levies they’ve triggered, and an ongoing purge of federal workers have stoked fears of rebounding inflation and a potential economic downturn.
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