Retirement Accounts & Other Household Investments Lost $14.2 Trillion Due to COVID-19. Are You Prepared for a Second Wave?
The novel coronavirus upended much of American life and caused a lot of heartache for investors.
While the market has recovered most of the major losses experienced in March, portfolio watchers likely panicked earlier this year when they saw their investments tumble in value -- especially as the losses were dramatic between Feb. 19 and Mar. 23. In fact, during just those few weeks, the Center for Retirement Research found U.S. households suffered $14.2 trillion in direct and indirect losses in their investment account balances. This included $4.4 trillion in losses in 401(k)s and similar plans as well as IRAs, $1.8 trillion in defined benefit plans, and $8 trillion in household non-pension assets.
The fact that the market largely rebounded in the subsequent two months provides an important object lesson: If you hold tight and don't panic when things look bad, there's a very good chance you'll get your money back -- perhaps sooner than you expected.
Source Fool.com
