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sequence risk

An Emergency Fund for Retirement

Many individuals have heard about having an emergency fund while working and saving for retirement. Generally, the rule of thumb has been to keep 3 to 6 months of non-discretionary living expenses on hand in case one loses their job, becomes disabled, or an unforeseen emergency occurs. But what about those individuals who are nearing or already retired? What should their emergency fund look like? Do they even need one? One of the bigger risks that pre-retirees and retirees face in retirement is sequence risk. Sequence risk is generally defined as the risk of even lower portfolio returns due to making withdrawals from a retirement account when the market has experienced a downturn. In other words, a retiree experiences sequence risk when their retirement account drops in value due to market volatility, and they make a withdrawal (or withdrawals) after the account has dropped in value. Another way to put it […]