Why a Stock Market Crash Won't Ruin Your Retirement (and What Actually Will)
Stay Wealthy Retirement Podcast
Taylor Schulte, CFP®
4.7 • 678 Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2026
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Your retirement involves complex, interconnected decisions—taxes, income, healthcare, estate planning, investments.
See how they fit together in one coordinated strategy built around your numbers.
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Strong rallies make people uneasy.
So does the fear that one bad crash could undo decades of careful saving.
Recently, Morningstar published a great article centered around a chart mapping nearly 100 years of U.S. market history.
When you zoom out, several widely accepted beliefs about market crashes and bull markets start to look far less certain.
In this episode, I break down the three common myths the article explores.
I also share what the data actually tells us about bear markets and what's far more likely to derail your retirement than a crash.
Not to predict the future or eliminate risk.
But to help you think more clearly about the environment we're in and how it fits into a disciplined, long-term retirement plan.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Retirement investing asks you to live with uncertainty. You don't know what the markets will do next year. |
| 0:05.7 | You don't know when the next bear market will arrive. And you certainly don't know whether today's headlines are meaningful or just noise. |
| 0:12.9 | What we do know is this. Strong market rallies make people uneasy. When stocks rise quickly or get close to new record highs, it's natural to assume something |
| 0:22.9 | must be different this time, that the rally is unusual, that the bull market is getting old, |
| 0:28.1 | that one bad downturn could undo decades of savings. Those beliefs feel reasonable. They're repeated |
| 0:34.8 | often, and for someone approaching or living in retirement, |
| 0:37.9 | they can easily influence major decisions. Recently, Jeff Patackett Morningstar, published a great |
| 0:43.8 | piece around a fascinating chart mapping nearly 100 years of U.S. stock market history. When you step |
| 0:50.2 | back and look at that long arc of expansions, downturns, and recoveries, a few widely |
| 0:55.5 | accepted ideas about the markets and investing start to look less solid. That's what I want |
| 1:00.7 | to dig into today. In this episode, I'm breaking down the three common market myths Jeff's article |
| 1:05.5 | explores. I'm also sharing what the data actually tells us about bare markets and what's |
| 1:10.6 | far more likely |
| 1:11.4 | to derail your retirement than a crash. Not to predict the future or eliminate risk entirely, |
| 1:17.2 | but to help you think more clearly about the environment we're in and how it fits into a |
| 1:22.1 | disciplined long-term retirement plan. Welcome to another episode of the Stay Wealthy Retirement Show. I'm your host, |
| 1:28.9 | Taylor Schulte, and every week I tackle the most important financial topics to help you stay |
| 1:33.9 | wealthy in retirement. And now, on to the episode. Before we get into the myths, let me quickly |
| 1:42.7 | describe the chart that Jeff is referencing in his article. |
| 1:45.6 | The chart maps U.S. stock market history going all the way back to 1926 and color codes three |
| 1:51.7 | distinct phases, expansions, downturns, and recoveries. Expans are the periods that begin immediately |
| 1:59.5 | after the market climbs back to a previous high. |
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