The combination of rising living costs due to inflation and crappy stock market results have many people rethinking their retirement plans. Here are a couple of recent excerpts from the financial press.

This headline comes from CNBC: 25% of Americans are delaying retirement due to inflation, survey finds

Then there’s this excerpt from a Wall Street Journal email (emphasis added):

Many pension plans are having a hard time meeting their payout obligations to members, the result of decades of underfunding, benefit overpromises, and unrealistic demands from unions. This year’s simultaneous stock and bond decline has only worsened matters.

But there’s a way to save your retirement and keep cash flowing into your account – cash you can use to pay your bills…

The stock market problems apply to most retirees or near-retirement workers who will depend on their 401(k) balances to pay for their retirement dreams. They have been hit by the double-whammy of their rapidly rising living costs and the melting away of their hard-won retirement savings, decreasing their projected retirement income levels.

So-called experts in the financial world have been wrong far too often in recent years. Let’s start with inflation. Just a year ago, all you heard from the Federal Reserve Board members, the Secretary of the Treasury, and other government officials, was that inflation was “transitory.”

They were grossly wrong – and unfortunately, those same people are now expected to stop the continued ravages of higher prices. I don’t think they understand that talk alone won’t solve the problem. They need to take action – action that may be unpopular. And there is nothing worse in this media-driven world than to be unpopular.

The sins of the pension management world are too many to list. Here are a few:

• Following the same portfolio strategies that focus on the largest tech companies and putting too much money into low-yield bond funds
• Emphasizing ESG factors over just making attractive returns for those who count on that money for retirement
• Too much “group think” on investment strategies without considering what could go wrong in the markets and how to protect retirement fund values during the next inevitable bear market

When I started The Dividend Hunter eight years ago, I wanted a strategy that keep retirees safe when markets crashed, so they would not be stuck without the money they wanted or needed to pay for their retired life.

The Dividend Hunter strategy focuses on building a portfolio of high-yield investments. Historically, that yield has stayed around 8%.

Dividends are cash returns that don’t vary as the markets go up and down. Earning most of your returns as cash provides tremendous flexibility. You can take advantage of compound growth if you reinvest all or a portion of your dividends. This tactic will grow your income stream no matter what is going on with stock prices.

In retirement, the dividend income provides a reliable income that will not change, regardless of what happens in the markets.

If you don’t have a significant portion of your retirement savings in income investments, join me at The Dividend Hunter. I provide tons of education to, and direct contact with, my subscribers. I have often been told how finding my service changed lives for the better. If you feel like inflation and the recent stock market drop have put your retirement plans in jeopardy, joining The Dividend Hunter will help you get back on track. Click here to get started.