20 Sep Is it time to protect my stock market gains and sell investments?

Q. The stock market keeps surprising me. I haven’t pared back my investments yet but I feel like I should because something’s got to give. I’m 50 so I have time. Should I just close my eyes and let it ride?
— Nervous investor

A. Yours is a question that many people have been asking themselves these days.

And no one has a crystal ball.

The instinct you’re describing is actually a healthy one, even if the conclusion — “something’s got to give” — isn’t quite the right frame, said Ryan Jensen, a Chartered Retirement Planning Counselor (CRPC) with OneDigital in Boonton.

“What you’re really feeling isn’t about the market itself; it’s risk perception — the natural human tendency to read recent headlines and surprising moves as a signal that you have to do something,” Jensen said. “But a hot or jittery market, on its own, isn’t a reason to change a plan.”

Jensen recommends you separate emotion from the plan.

“Risk perception is heavily shaped by recent events and the news cycle. The danger isn’t the volatility — it’s letting a short-term feeling drive a permanent portfolio decision,” he said.

Time horizon is the question that actually matters. At 50, your retirement money likely has 12 to 17 years to work.

“The framework we lean on treats time horizon as the primary driver of how much risk you can take — under 5 years is low, 5–10 is moderate, and 10+ years supports a high risk-taking ability,” Jensen said.

You may have more than one time horizon at once. The money you won’t touch for 15 years and the money you’ll need in 3 years are two different conversations, even in the same account, he said. Near-term dollars warrant a steadier posture while long-term dollars can stay in growth.

The healthy version of “pare back” is disciplined rebalancing — not blind autopilot, he said.

“When an asset class drifts too far from target, you trim it and buy what’s lagged,” Jensen said. “It captures your `something’s got to give’ instinct in a rules-based, unemotional way.”

He says you should watch sequence-of-returns risk as you move through your 50s.

“A big drop in the years right around when you stop working does far more damage than the same drop today, because you’d be drawing down instead of adding in — which is the real reason people gradually shift toward stabilizing assets near retirement,” he said.

Then, run three quick gut-checks, he said. Has your tolerance for risk actually changed, or just your reaction to the news? Has your capacity to absorb a loss changed? Do your goals still require this much risk?

“A core planning principle is that goals should be reconciled against what your finances can realistically support — not the other way around,” he said.

So rather than a flat yes-or-no on paring back, Jensen said he’d reframe it: A volatile market and turning 50 are both perfectly good reasons to sit down and revisit your asset mix — but the review is the action, not necessarily the selling.

“Whether any adjustment makes sense ultimately depends on the individual’s goals, risk tolerance, time horizon, financial circumstances, and tax situation, which is exactly why it’s worth talking through rather than deciding on a headline,” he said.

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This story was originally published in September 2026. 

NJMoneyHelp.com presents certain general financial planning principles and advice, but should never be viewed as a substitute for obtaining advice from a personal professional advisor who understands your unique individual circumstances.