Over time you may gain more confidence as they get those that have been listed on SS and Medicare databases off that are not eligible and also those that have inaccurate data. DH and I are both 68, and we both turn 69 this year. IMHO there is no reason to believe that Medicare and SS will not continue. YMMV. We have been on Medicare after we both were eligible, and I retired right at 65. I took my SS right at 65 and DH took his when he was 65 and 8 months (full SS for both of us would have been 66 and 4 months).
UPDATE: Remember my panicky friend upthread? They met with their FA, and he said to do exactly what I said. She wrote to say that she still doesnât get it but that âI was a big enough person to let you know that you were right!â lol I have the best friends. 
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What was that ? Itâs not linked to that post.
All I know is my oracle is down from 200 to 125. Theyâll allegedly be a part of tick tock. Itâs a huge holding for me. So itâs not a good feel but I wonât sell no matter what. Still if I knew it was going down 40% or more - I could have sold and bought back.
Itâs only my balance that lets me sleep.
Truth is, the company is the same although it can potentially lose govt contracts.
Emotions come into play with valuations.
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That Friday of the huge two-day dip this month, she panicked and wanted to sell stocks rather than bonds. Plus, she partly wanted to sell because she had to finance an expensive car repair and clearly wasnât liquid enough going into retirement (she wanted her dh to retire this spring but now he is looking at two more years). She also had two accounts that arenât AUM, but she also hadnât let them know about them! I got on to her for not being fully transparent with this FA who she is paying to give her advice but without a clear picture of where they truly were.
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As they purge the information of people who are long deceased and not getting SS or Medicare anyways, it will do zero to gain my confidence any more than cleaning up the 10K extra emails I have sitting in my inbox. Just because theyâre sitting there doesnât mean I have to do anything about them. And as they make corrections to those who have incorrect information in the database, I sincerely doubt that will change the numbers of people actually getting benefits in any significant levels.
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Agree that the FA needs to know amount/types of investments beyond the AUM (Assets Under Management). Thatâs the only way FA will know âthe big pictureâ of portfolio asset allocation.
Thatâs what I explained to her. She said that she knew they would want to put it under mgmt, and I told her that she should tell them no, like I do with my guy. I explained that if the FA determines that they should be 50/50 and that there are two accounts out there doing their own thing (one was at 70/30 and I donât know how the Vanguard acct was split) then they canât give you the best advice on the part that they do manage.
I think intellectually she knows all this. Her mom made some poor financial decisions, including getting scammed for tens of thousands of dollars, so my friend is a little suspicious and scared around money.
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Everyoneâs retirement plans and accounts are important to me. No matter their size or situation.
My husband and I are in the smaller range ourselves. We live a very blessed and happy life.
As long as our accounts donât tank 
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We have our investments in a number of locations: a few banks, a brokerage account, and a retirement account from a former employer. I was very hesitant to share with the FA at the brokerage firm the details of my other bank investments. They were clamoring to do a full assessment for us, so I finally gave in and did it.
The full assessment did not really reveal much (said we had enough to retire). I probably will not share that information again.
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We see our CFP tomorrow. Iâll let you know how it goes!
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Yes, I donât want to be in perpetual worry. But realistically, we retired in 2022. We received a mid-6 figure inheritance and decided to invest in a diverse portfolio of stocks and bonds. Remember 2022? Finally, by 2024 our investments were showing some modest growth. And now they are being hit again. My understanding is that being hit with these kinds of losses early in retirement is a worse case situation. So while Iâm not in perpetual state of worry, I am now concerned in a way I wasnât a year ago.
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Yes. Sequence of returns risk.
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Agree - I retired in 2021, and husband retired in 2022. I have worried about sequence of returns risk, and here it is :(.
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I retired in 2011. I have watched the value of my investments go up and down more than once. 
that what goes downâŠgoes up.
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only if you need to sell the equities to pay bills. A balanced portfolio for most retirees should have plenty of fixed income assets which can be sold to pay bills. For example, Vanguard Intermediate Treasuries are up 3.01% YTD. Current SEC yield of 4%.
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I think when you actually retire you need to rebalance your portfolio. Very low risk investments only. Especially if you need either the interest or to draw down savings to cover your day to day expenses during retirement.
We have a lot of savings, but since we are currently retired without getting any pensions or SS, we are drawing down money to pay our expenses for a few years (should be for about 6 years - from the start of my husbands early retirement until he reaches full retirement age). It has been hard to see our numbers go down, but we planned for it and are using our savings accounts and CDs to cover it.
We got out of stocks, munis, etc. for our savings which are not designated as retirement (so not in IRA, 401 K, etc.). The ones in those accounts wonât be touched for a few years yet so they should have time to recover by then.
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If you want low risk, why would you get out of munis? Short of treasuries/CDs, there is nothing lower risk.
We are with @kiddie because Munis are not particularly liquid. We have other investments that are not liquid so adding to this was not part of our diversified retirement portfolio.
Different strokes for different folks.
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Muniâs are as liquid or near as - as equities. So not sure I understand the statement.
But they are for income - not tradingâŠ.the ultimate retirement, conservative vehicle.
But letâs not sidetrack. Weâve been through thatâŠ
My bonds â including munis â are for ballast, not income. I just want to make sure that they donât zig when the market zags. I donât care if they pay 0%, as long as itâs not negative for any length of time.
ââŠbonds have a long history as a consistent ballast in a diversified portfolio during risk-off periods. This a long-term, multi-decades track record. More importantly, even in extreme periods of market dislocations, such as the Global Financial Crisis in 2008/09 and the more recent COVID-19 market turmoil, the price decline of bonds (including credit-focused strategies, not just Treasury bonds) has been magnitudes lower than the S&P 500 Index, which is a widely accepted proxy for stocks.â
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