Hi darrellquock,
my portfolio also dropped by ~50%. It has come back up a bit since hitting its lowest point.
I was also wondering what I could have done back in 2021 and in the fall of 2021 to position my portfolio better for retirement mode.
I came to the conclusion that I would not have done anything differently. I would not have sold in big quantity or changed my growth portfolio so it would be less volatile.
I would not have done anything different because of two reasons:
-
I was not focusing on re-vamping my portfolio for retirement which may need a bit more of a short term stability for income. I think I would still need the long term growth. I have had ideas of retiring for a while now and financially I could have but I never pulled the trigger and activated the final preparations for such an event.
I was focusing 100% on long term growth. -
even if I had been in the frame of mind to retire in 2022, I would have thought that such a growth portfolio could still be appropriate for retirement despite it being mostly in growth stocks. In that I mean, I can draw from it the income I need to cover my expenses.
I have revisited these ideas several times in these past few months and I have not changed my mind. Moreover on 2, I may nevertheless alter some of the composition of my portfolio to tame down growth for a bit less volatility. I think it might still fall hard in the next bear market but that should be (I think and I hope) ok. I need and I want the long term growth to continue even in my retirement age.
So the question is a matter of how big and what is the margin of safety you need. If you don’t have that, it will not work FIRE or not FIRE (I did not know about FIRE until recently), and you would have nothing to regret. It’s just not time yet.
tj