OK financial expert: Retirement savings concerns minimal following stock market drop
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – An Oklahoma City financial advisor says he believes Oklahomans looking at the impact stock market changes are having on their savings account will have nothing to worry about in the long term.
The Dow Jones plummeted more than 2,200 points Friday after an already unprecedented drop of nearly 1,700 points the day before.
The big drop, a part of the fallout from President Donald Trump imposing sweeping tariffs on some of the United States' biggest trade partners. China is the latest to slap the U.S. with retaliatory tariffs.
"It's definitely one of the fastest drops the market's seen in history," said Oklahoma Chartered Financial Analyst Sam Jurrens, Founder of Even Herd.
Jurrens equated the historical nature of the incident to the coronavirus pandemic, saying it's a situation that will be remembered similarly due to the massive amount of ongoing confusion.
"You had governments starting to mandate shutdowns and those things, a very unclear picture of what's going to happen, and in those cases, that's where the market panics," said Jurrens.
Jurrens said the dramatic market drop can likely be attributed to Trump's initial tariff plan being much more extreme than what investors likely anticipated, but that it doesn't mean the situation might not end in a beneficial and positive outcome.
Jurrens says he understands Oklahomans looking at their retirement savings may be concerned. News 4 asked him if they should be worried if they're noticing big changes.
"If you're looking at retirement and it's money you're not going to touch for at least, you know, five, ten, even 20 years or more, and in that case, it's not something you should be overly worried about," said Jurrens.
News 4 pressed Jurrens further about retirees looking at a shorter timetable.
"If it's a retiree, very short term, you know, you need the money in a month, or a month or a year, something that short term it shouldn't be invested in the first place, probably to be able to take that kind of loss," said Jurrens.
Jurrens said it's typical for the market to see ebbs and flows, and advising someone to take a knee-jerk approach with their money is something he's not prepared to do. He says he believes the market will bounce back.
"You can play it as dire as you want, and five years from now, I still don't think it's going to be much of a discussion, no matter what the outcome is," said Jurrens.