{"id":219691,"date":"2026-01-06T13:37:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T13:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/219691\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T13:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T13:37:07","slug":"worried-about-your-retirement-nest-egg-in-turbulent-times-three-experts-weigh-in-on-how-to-protect-your-wealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/219691\/","title":{"rendered":"Worried about your retirement nest egg in turbulent times? Three experts weigh in on how to protect your wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Keeping two to three years of living expenses in an easily liquidated investment can help individuals who are close to retirement weather the storm of a market downturn.Getty Images<\/p>\n

For many Canadians nearing retirement, the last several years have felt financially nerve-wracking, marked by increased job insecurity, a rising cost of living and constant threats of recession.<\/p>\n

Shamez Kassam, a chartered financial analyst based in Calgary, says that he\u2019s been hearing from clients more about how they are stressed about the state of the economy and how it will affect their retirement. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom an equity market perspective, valuations are at the higher end,\u201d says Mr. Kassam, a portfolio manager at Designed Wealth Management. \u201cIt\u2019s a fairly critical time for preretirees and retirees.\u201d<\/p>\n

High valuations increase the risk of a market correction, which could reduce investment returns at a time when investors need to shore up their retirement income. That\u2019s especially relevant as prominent voices in the media warn of an AI-fuelled equity market bubble<\/a> and muted stock market growth<\/a> over the next decade. <\/p>\n

Amid this uncertainty, experts say there are adjustments investors can make to help protect and grow their retirement savings. <\/p>\n

\u201cLife is uncertain, but there are some levers that you can control,\u201d Mr. Kassam says.<\/p>\n

Save on fees<\/p>\n

Spending, investment choices and investment fees are three areas where investors can find savings, Mr. Kassam says, and that can translate into more money for retirement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find that investors generally in Canada underestimate the impact of what costs do to returns over time,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

Mr. Kassam gives the example of someone with $1-million in their portfolio who is able to find a savings of 1 per cent per year on fees. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re saving $10,000 a year,\u201d which is a notable amount when thinking about one\u2019s lifestyle in retirement, he says. People who invest through major banks or other higher-fee arrangements can find this kind of savings if they move to lower-cost investments, he adds.<\/p>\n

For individuals approaching retirement, Mr. Kassam suggests keeping two to three years of living expenses in an easily liquidated investment so they can \u201cweather the storm\u201d of a market downturn and avoid making big changes to their nest egg at such a critical time. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives the rest of your portfolio time to recover,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Play the long game<\/p>\n

Kun Huo, assistant professor of accounting at the Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ont., says it\u2019s crucial to keep a long-term perspective on savings, even during tough times in the market. <\/p>\n

He says he\u2019s known many people who pulled their money out of investments as the market was tanking, only to fail to get invested again in time to realize the dramatic gains that can come after a dip.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest rises in stock markets tend to follow the biggest drops,\u201d Dr. Huo says. \u201cMore money is lost waiting for a correction than from the correction itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Huo is an advocate for using accounting principles such as balance sheets and depreciation schedules to plan out finances over the long term. He points out that tracking expenses now can help individuals project how much they will need in retirement. <\/p>\n

Other tips include renegotiating debt when interest rates fall and always retaining some liquidity to earn interest on cash when rates go up. <\/p>\n

Watch for pension pitfalls<\/p>\n

Janea Dieno, a certified financial planner with Brightrock Financial in Saskatoon, says the growing gap between income growth and the cost of food and other necessities is affecting many Canadians\u2019 ability to save. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s seen numerous clients take on new jobs with higher salaries to stay on track with their retirement savings but cautions that job changes come with pension considerations. When individuals are nearing retirement, it\u2019s important to compare total compensation, not just salary, when considering a new role, and to find out when the pension starts at the new job.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften, the pension doesn\u2019t start for three months, six months or a year,\u201d says Ms. Dieno. That puts the onus on the individual to invest the amount of money they would normally be saving in their pension if they want to retire at the same time as they planned. <\/p>\n

For example, if a former employer had been pension-matching at 5 per cent of a worker\u2019s pretax salary, Ms. Dieno recommends they put 10 per cent of their income away until the pension kicks in, then scaling it back to the 5-per-cent contribution afterward. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat might get you a couple extra years of retirement life,\u201d she says. \u201cInstead of retiring at 60, you might retire at 58.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Keeping two to three years of living expenses in an easily liquidated investment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[11232,138,12470,246,329,1426,3698,111,139,69,102212,2180,244,245,2919,294,7192,915,1817,115303],"class_list":{"0":"post-219691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-budgeting","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-fees","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-investing","13":"tag-investment","14":"tag-longevity","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-nz","18":"tag-ordid3892936014edit","19":"tag-pension","20":"tag-personal-finance","21":"tag-personalfinance","22":"tag-recession","23":"tag-retirement","24":"tag-risk","25":"tag-saving","26":"tag-stock-market","27":"tag-turbulence"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}