Americans nearing retirement and recent retirees said they were anxious and frustrated following a second day of market turmoil that hit their 401(k)s after President Donald Trump’s escalation of tariffs.
As the impending tariffs shook the global economy Friday, people who were planning on their retirement accounts to carry them through their golden years said the economic chaos was hitting too close to home.
Some said they are pausing big-ticket purchases and reconsidering home renovations, while others said they fear their quality of life will be adversely affected by all the turmoil.
“I’m just kind of stunned, and with so much money in the market, we just sort of have to hope we have enough time to recover,” said Paula, 68, a former occupational health professional in New Jersey who retired three years ago.
Paula, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she feared retaliation for speaking out against Trump administration policies, said she was worried about what lies ahead.
“What we’ve been doing is trying to enjoy the time that we have, but you want to be able to make it last,” Paula said Friday. “I have no confidence here.”
Trump fulfilled his campaign promise this week to unleash sweeping tariffs, including on the United States’ largest trading partners, in a move that has sparked fears of a global trade war. The decision sent the stock market spinning. On Friday afternoon, the broad-based S&P 500 closed down 6%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 5.8%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 2,200 points, or about 5.5%.
As Wall Street reeled Friday after China hit back with tariffs against the U.S., millions of Americans with 401(k)s watched their retirement funds diminish along with the stock market.
“I looked at my 401(k) this morning and in the last two days that’s lost $58,000. That’s stressful,” said Victor Fettes, 54, of Georgia, who retired last week as a senior director of risk management and compliance at Verizon. “If that continues, I can’t stay retired.”
Trump has said the tariffs will force businesses to relocate manufacturing and production back to the U.S. and bring back jobs. Some investors and business groups have pushed back, saying they are likely to lead to higher prices for U.S. consumers.
“Our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” Trump said recently. “But it is not going to happen anymore.”
The president has acknowledged the potential pain coming to some Americans’ wallets, but he continues to staunchly defend his agenda.
“MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE,” he posted to social media Friday. Later, he wrote, “ONLY THE WEAK WILL FAIL.”
Trump’s tariffs are steeper and more widespread than any in modern American history. They are potentially even broader than the tariffs of 1930 that historians said worsened the Great Depression.
Some Americans thinking about retirement told NBC News they feel their economic stability is being played with.
“I don’t want to have to worry that everyone is constantly changing my financial reality,” said Alison Carey, 64, of Oregon, a freelancer in the theater industry. “Let the economy do its machinations, but don’t put me in the gears.”
Paula said she and other older Americans are living with “anxiety about something where you don’t really know what’s going to happen. You can’t do anything though.”
She and her husband have decided to pause and reduce spending on big-ticket items. They are reconsidering vacations and home renovations.
“We can’t change anything right now, except our spending,” she said. “I’m sure there are consumers across the board that want to be cautious, too. Then it becomes a vicious cycle. Consumer confidence goes down.”
One in five Americans age 50 and over have no retirement savings, and more than half, 61%, are worried they will not have enough money to support them in retirement, according to a survey published by the AARP last April.
“It makes you realize how out of touch the current administration is with regular people,” said Benajah Cobb, 63, Carey’s husband, who also works in the theater industry.
He said he hoped the last few days of stock market turmoil would motivate lawmakers to put more checks and balances on the president.
“It’s happening so quickly. Things are falling apart so quickly,” he said. “I’m hoping Congress will try to step up a bit, the Republicans in Congress.”
Fettes said he has been calling his representatives about the tariffs and other issues “to make sure that as a constituent, our voices are being heard.”
“We believe firmly in our family that a democracy is a participatory game, and so we want to make sure that our representatives understand where we’re at and what we would like for them to do to represent,” he said.
Paula said that as she and her husband continue to monitor their retirement accounts, their biggest fear is how Trump’s policies could impact the quality of the rest of their lives — and when their funds will run out.
“That’s my big worry, when is that shortfall going to happen now?” she said.