You’ve spent much of your entire working life building up your 401(k) and then along comes a severe market downturn to threaten your retirement plans – what can you do to ensure that your portfolio stays protected?
The first step during an impending market crash is to avoid panicking. Market corrections and cyclical downturns can happen every few years, and they are likely to occur several times throughout the life of your 401(k). While it can be uneasy, market crashes are an important time to stay invested in longer-term investment accounts and not make emotional short-term decisions that could cost you dearly later.
Sometimes market crashes can be unpredictable, but prepare for them as best as you can. In the past, many investors stuck to a “60/40” method of investing by placing 60% of their portfolio into equities and 40% into bonds. That advice has changed along with evolving market forces, and experts now offer up new ways of mitigating market risk.
