Looking at how stocks have plummeted, it seems like I've thrown years of retirement planning away. Any words of advice?

I think the emphasis is on seems.

Back in the day when people kept screaming recession like bloody murder, I did quite a bit of research in 2018 and produced this.

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Basically it outlines how quickly markets rebound, which is actually why people who time the market fail - they sell low and then buy in when its high, since they can't predict bull markets.

If you've taken a concentrated equity approach like myself, you'd have seen pretty large losses, but this was all part of the risk you were supposed to take. If your retirement planning is truly in danger, you should really speak to a consultant as to what kind of damage control you can do and understand what went wrong with your own planning.

It's not uncommon to have people become bigger risk takers magically when things are going well. Or in the case of right now, you see countless people adjust their 'risk' on Stashaway when stocks are 'low'.

If you behave in a herd you will end up like a herd. Herds aren't rich.

I advice you to stay invested ,keep investing and look at the long term. Time heals your wounds.

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First thing to ask yourself is are the companies expected to survive and recover?

The next question is the money that you invested in stocks do you need it in the next 1-2 years.

Human tendency is when they see stock price go down, they fear that it will go down further. And when they see stock price go up, they expect it to go up higher.

Now that good companies are on discount, can consider buying it cheap. But if you feel that holding cash is important now, then can hold cash too.

Depends on your risk appetite and capital allocation.
I make videos about interesting stuff at youtube here​​​

You need patience and to switch Your strategy towards large and cheap broadly diversified passive indexing ETFs (like VT or VOO) with buy & hold approach.

Nothing bad will happen.

Non-doing is the best You can do.

1. Will you be retiring soon?

2. the stocks you are referring to, are they still positive?

usually when we're closer to retirement age, we will change more of our funds to a guaranteed income, like an annuity. With that, you don't need to worry about depleting your retirement funds. A portion of it can still be in investments and stocks.

However, if it's negative values for the investment currently, you just have to hold through this period.