A sharp stock-market fall can be unsettling at any stage of investing. But for a person close to retirement or a retiree who is withdrawing money from the portfolio every month, the impact can be much bigger.
This is where planning and preparation matter. The equity-debt mix of a retirement portfolio becomes important. Having enough money in relatively stable assets like debt can give your equity investments enough time to recover from a correction or a crash instead of forcing you to sell them at lower prices.
