This Is The Best Way To Recession-Proof Your Retirement

Take these steps so you won’t have to worry about how stocks perform.

- Alix Langone

AN ESTIMATED $2.4 TRILLION disappeared almost overnight from Americans’ 401(k)s and IRAs when the market crashed in 2008, devastating many of their retirement prospects.

Stocks have since recovered spectacularly, and in March the bull market celebrated its 10th birthday. Still, there’s a growing sense that this really is on borrowed time, and as economists warn that another recession is likely to happen in the next two to three years, many people are asking themselves what they can do to prepare for the next financial disaster.

Those who are near retirement are especially vulnerable to drops in the stock market, owing to the lack of time they have to recover and the fact that—in the case of those already retired—they’re drawing down savings instead of working and adding to them. But if you plan ahead, you can build a financial buffer to help ensure you survive the passing storm.

Here are a few basic steps you should take:

BUILD YOUR CUSHION