Voice Over: Running a marathon takes discipline. You need to train regularly, eat correctly and stay mentally strong for the challenge ahead.
The past several decades may have felt like a marathon, as you’ve worked hard and saved to achieve your vision of retirement.
But, reaching retirement isn’t the finish line, it’s actually the beginning.
And the road ahead, just like a marathon, is uncertain.
Healthcare spending can rise dramatically during retirement and people are living longer than ever, which means you may need your money to last longer than you anticipated.
There are three ways to help make it last throughout retirement. Protect it. Grow it. Pace it.
Protecting it means keeping your money safe. The farther along you go in your marathon, the more fatigued you’ll be making it challenging to recover from a hard fall. If a severe market event takes place you’ll have less time to recoup losses.
Growing it means, at the very least, keeping up with inflation. During your run you should continually refuel but you don’t want to overdo it. Similarly, during retirement, it’s wise to grow your money so it retains its value —you don’t want to overdo it with risky investments and end up losing it.
Pacing it means making your money last – just as you would not exhaust yourself at the start of a marathon – be wise about how you use your retirement investments so they are not exhausted in your life time.
Severe market swings happen more frequently than many investors realize – about once every five years during the past three decades.
Managed volatility strategies aim to help make your money grow as you save for retirement, as well as last throughout retirement, by seeking to shield your investments from potential downswings in the market.
They can shed equities during periods of high volatility, and reintroduce them during periods of stability to help maximize growth, with the goal of preserving your capital no matter which way the market moves.
Text on screen: As always, you should talk to your financial adviser who can help select the products and services that are right for you.
For more information, visit pimco.com