Retirement Risk Changes at 55. Why Timeline Matters More Than Returns

If you are approaching retirement, investment risk is no longer just about chasing higher returns. It becomes about whether you have enough time to recover from market declines and how volatility can affect your ability to retire when planned.

In this episode of The Capitalist Investor, Diamond Hands - Derek and Jack Root discuss how risk tolerance evolves as retirement nears and why preserving capital, managing allocation, and maintaining discipline become more important than outperforming the market.

They explain how drawdowns require significantly larger gains to recover, why the “lost decade” illustrates sequencing risk, and how rebalancing portfolios can help manage exposure as markets shift.

The conversation focuses on building a plan that aligns investments, income strategy, and retirement timing rather than reacting to trends, momentum trades, or short-term performance.