{"id":308097,"date":"2026-03-01T15:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T15:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/308097\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T15:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T15:02:09","slug":"want-to-retire-sooner-perhaps-surprisingly-a-stock-market-crash-could-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/308097\/","title":{"rendered":"Want to retire sooner? Perhaps surprisingly, a stock market crash could help"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

Image source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

A lot of people dream of an early retirement. The stock market can help turn that dream into a reality.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because putting money into shares can help build up a portfolio of shares to help fund retirement.<\/p>\n

But something a lot of people don\u2019t understand is that that doesn\u2019t necessarily rely on a booming stock market. In fact, a correction or even a crash in the market<\/a> can help speed the process up.<\/p>\n

Lower prices can be scary but helpful<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start by considering what a crash actually is.<\/p>\n

Each day it\u2019s open, the stock market quotes you (and everyone else) a price at which it\u2019s willing to sell you a given share. It also quotes you a price at which it\u2019s welling to buy the same share (or any others) from you.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s just an opportunity \u2013 not an obligation.<\/p>\n

That point\u2019s crucial.<\/p>\n

A crash can scare people because they look at their portfolio valuation and suddenly it\u2019s much lower than it was even a few days before. But that\u2019s only a paper loss. As there\u2019s no obligation to sell, there\u2019s no obligation to crystallise that loss.<\/p>\n

But there is an opportunity \u2013 and potentially a lucrative one for those who want to retire early.<\/a><\/p>\n

Quality on sale<\/p>\n

That opportunity is buying into great businesses at a lower price than it\u2019s normally possible to do. <\/p>\n

That can push up dividend yield, as yield\u2019s a function of both a company\u2019s dividend per share and what you pay for that share.<\/p>\n

I can illustrate this with a share I bought during the pandemic (and later sold): US oil major ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM<\/a>).<\/p>\n

With its scale, business efficiency, and worldwide footprint, I think there is a lot to like about ExxonMobil. Even at today\u2019s share price, I see it as a share for long-term investors to consider.<\/p>\n

But it was much cheaper a few years back. <\/p>\n

ExxonMobil has raised its decade per share annually for many decades<\/a>. Right now it yields 2.7%. That is below the FTSE 100 yield on this side of the pond, but by US standards it is well over double the current S&P 500 yield.<\/p>\n

In 2020, though, the ExxonMobil share price was less than a quarter of where it stands today.<\/p>\n

So, someone who bought then would now be yielding over 11%, versus the 2.7% yield on offer to today\u2019s buyer.<\/p>\n

That share price fall \u2013 and recovery \u2013 tells its own story.<\/p>\n

A big risk back then was weak oil prices. ExxonMobil kept growing its dividend, but Shell and BP both cut theirs. Oil prices have since risen, but today\u2019s geopolitical uncertainty means they\u2019re still a risk. That could hurt ExxonMobil\u2019s mammoth profitability.<\/p>\n

Getting ready now for future opportunities<\/p>\n

Buying a share at a lower price and so earning a much higher yield can help an investor hit their retirement goals years early.<\/p>\n

Such opportunities don\u2019t come around too often, though \u2013 and when they do, they mightn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it can pay to prepare in advance. <\/p>\n

Rather than waste time trying to time the next stock market crash, I\u2019m updating my list of shares I\u2019d like to buy if I can do so at an attractive enough price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image source: Getty Images A lot of people dream of an early retirement. The stock market can help…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":["post-308097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308097","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=308097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}