Investing for retirement: a long-term game many workers aren’t even playing

As a bullish 2017 stock market continued its steady rise to record breaking levels, President Trump and others took the opportunity to highlight these gains for retirement savers and their 401(k)s. But that record-breaking streak came to end in early February as the stock market finally tumbled, reminding us that what goes up usually comes down.

The lesson from this: highlighting short-term gains to retirement portfolios can do more harm than good to long-term retirement savings and can weaken the financial well-being of today’s workers.

Behavioral economists tell us that people don’t often act in their best interests because we often suffer from inertia and a short-term vision when it comes to making important financial decisions. We are seeing this now as a rising stock market increased the size of retirement portfolios. A recent Washington Post article reported that some investment managers are seeing clients cash in on that euphoria by pulling dollars out of retirement funds for vacations, college and home improvement. This can be a costly mistake in the long run by jeopardizing retirement readiness.

Read More: Market Watch