Wednesday, October 8, 2025

I’m 62 and want to move my $200K IRA to a money-market account. Am I overreacting?

“I have $350,000 in home equity, $1 million in a 403(b), $80,000 in a Roth IRA, $40,000 in an HSA and $60,000 in cash.” (Photo subject is a model.)
“I have $350,000 in home equity, $1 million in a 403(b), $80,000 in a Roth IRA, $40,000 in an HSA and $60,000 in cash.” (Photo subject is a model.) – Getty Images

I’ll be 63 next month. I’ve been retired for almost a year. I’m single, have no debt, and I’m in excellent health.

I have $350,000 in home equity, $1 million in a 403(b), $80,000 in a Roth IRA, $40,000 in an HSA, $60,000 in cash and $200,000 in a traditional IRA. My expenses are $4,000 a month. I have $1,300 a month in passive income that could end at any time. I’m drawing $2,500 a month from my traditional IRA ($2,075 after taxes) and get the monthly expense balance from cash.

My traditional IRA is 80% stocks and 20% bonds/cash. I’ve asked my financial adviser to put it into a money-market account with 4% to 5% interest. He says don’t do it or I’ll shortly spend all my funds. That’s my objective — I will exhaust the account in six to seven years, at which time I’d tap my 403(b), which I plan to leave invested in the market at roughly 70% stocks and 30% bonds.

I think we’re in a market bubble based on AI exuberance and don’t want to sell from my IRA assets in a downturn. I also will likely inherit about $300,000 from my father, provided he doesn’t need nursing-home care. He’s 95 and fairly healthy. I will also draw Social Security when I reach 70, which will be $3,500 per month.

Should I stay the course with my IRA and risk a bear market, or play it safe with a guaranteed (low) rate of return?

Single Retiree

Related: I begged my adviser to sell amid the market turmoil. He dragged his feet and I lost $20,000. Do I have any recourse?

If you are proven wrong by moving your $200,000 to bonds, at least you can take comfort in doing what YOU believed was best at the time.
If you are proven wrong by moving your $200,000 to bonds, at least you can take comfort in doing what YOU believed was best at the time. – MarketWatch illustration

AI is still in its infancy, but your predictions are yours to own.

The clue is in the title: You hire your adviser to give you advice and to put your interests first, and he has done that to the best of his ability. He says don’t do it. So you either take his advice or you don’t. If you do take his advice, and there’s an almighty tumble in the stock market, you will rue the day you ever listened to him and curse yourself for not listening to your gut.

If you don’t take his advice and the market continues to climb, notwithstanding the usual bumps and grinds like we had in April, you may wonder why you allowed your fears to get the best of you. I received many emails like yours during the market correction in April — people wanting to move 100% to bonds or gold — and they might be regretting that decision now.

Source link

Latest Topics

Related Articles

spot_img