How Trump’s new tariffs could impact 401ks and retirement plans

(WFSB) – With President Donald Trump announcing many new tariffs Wednesday, a lot of people are now wondering how they will impact their retirement and 401k accounts.

The stock market saw it’s worse day in five years Thursday, but some fear that the worst is yet to be seen.

“If you look at what happens as a result of tariffs historically, it doesn’t end well. It deepened the recession into the Great Depression in the 1930s. But let me just say, what we face now is a gigantic, bleeding self-inflicted wound that is reverberating across the globe,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Financial advisers say they understand the scare, but if you’ve been spreading out your retirement money between safe and aggressive stocks, you should be able to weather the storm.

“When you have money segmented like that you should be able to weather these downturns and cause you not to overreact. The worst thing you could do right now is go to cash completely,” said advisor Derek Mazzarella.

He says that it’s no surprise the people hurt hardest by the stock market fall will be those close to retirement or those who just retired. But he added that there are winners in this situation.

“For younger folks that have a long time horizon, this is going to be a buying opportunity. The best part about the 401k is you’re putting money in every single paycheck. You’ll be buying when there’s dips and you’ll be buying when it’s good too so this is going to be a wealth creation opportunity for some folks too,” he continued.

Xavier Harrison is one of those who hopes to make a long-term gain from short term losses.

“If you know what you know, you’re going to buy into the market while it’s low and then put in what you can afford so you aren’t taking a loss on the backend,” he said.

But he stated that he knows there’s nothing he can do about the ups and downs of financial America, so he just keeps working hard.

“They say I’m not gonna have a retirement anyway so I might as well work hard until my daughter is good and make sure my family is fine and at the end of the day do what i can,” said Mazzarella.

As for how long the new tariffs could impact the market, there is no answer at the moment.

Trump said however that he is negotiating with other countries.

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