If you are within five years of retirement you should be getting out of the stock market and into more fixed income vehicles. Or at least into dividend stocks.
As the prices go down, your annual return on a 5% dividend is pretty good. And they are out there.
But, anyone thinking it will keep going up is not really paying attention.
Just wait until all of those unfunded liabilities come home to roost. I will spend my 60s (ten years from now) picking through garbage cans for food. Oh wait...I do not consider Social Security in my retirement plans...so I am good.
The gov’t employee already underfunded pensions aren’t worried about losses, because they are under contract with a defined benefit plan and the taxpayers will have to pay.
I’m making the same bet on our principle residence. I suspect we will see 2 or 3 years of 5 percent declines and then a flat market for a decade. So people planning on scooping some savings from the differential (Selling family home for a cheaper condo) are going to be disappointed.