Your Retirement Portfolio Is Like Kindling. Trump Just Lit a Match.

[Zorro]

Our stock market is starting to crack. Investor confidence is rapidly dissipating. And changes in the way Wall Street works mean that the impact on your retirement portfolio could be far more severe than you may realize.

With the S&P 500 index down nearly 8 percent from its February peak, the U.S. equity markets are approaching bear-market territory, signaling a growing consensus in corporate America that a recession may be around the corner. After declining for three months in a row, consumer confidence is at its lowest level since July 2022, according to the University of Michigan index. Retailers are suffering: Ralph Lauren stock fell 19 percent in the last month alone. There are plenty of other stocks that are tanking, too.

Some of this was entirely predictable. The markets have been on an upward tear for the past eight years, hitting record highs both in the first Trump administration and under President Joe Biden. We were probably long overdue for the inevitable correction. The question, though, is how ugly this one will get. If history is any guide, it could get pretty bad: Financial reckonings tend to happen once every 20 years or so, and we are nearly 17 years out from the devastating financial crisis of 2008.

This time feels different because the damage is at least partly inflicted by the nine-week-old Trump administration, which recently signaled its determination to impose disastrous tariffs, even if doing so unleashes a recession. Corporate executives and Wall Street are rattled.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/opinion/stock-market-trump-retirement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.6U4.piNT.pe5qxvKNwMR-&smid=url-share