Retire With Purpose - The Retirement Podcast 550: By the Numbers: The Anchors of Retirement Confidence, Part 2 — Building a Plan for the Next Market Crash
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Feb 20, 2026 Marshall Johnson, a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER® who shares practical retirement planning perspectives, discusses building plans to withstand market crashes. He talks about why selling in downturns is the real fear. He explains recession buffers, time-based buckets, and separating living money from growth money. Practical strategies aim to replace anxiety with clarity and control.
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Sequence-Of-Returns Is The Real Threat
- Market drops aren't the main danger; selling assets at the wrong time is the real retirement risk.
- Vanguard research shows forced selling after downturns (sequence risk) causes most plan failures.
Build A Six–12 Month Recession Buffer
- Maintain a recession buffer of roughly six to 12 months of living expenses outside the market.
- This buffer can reduce retirement failure risk by as much as 70% and prevents selling into downturns.
Drawing The 'War Chest' Calms Clients
- Casey calls this safe reserve a "war chest" and walks clients through the math to show years of covered income.
- Seeing the war chest on a whiteboard often dispels clients' market anxiety immediately.
