KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) 鈥� When retired school counselor Don Herneisen meets up with friends each week for breakfast at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant, the conversation often turns to the economy. With in turmoil as unveiled his this week, the is unlikely to change anytime soon.
鈥淭here鈥檚 political uncertainty, there鈥檚 economic uncertainty, and if you鈥檙e retired, you don鈥檛 much like uncertainty at this point,鈥� said Herneisen, 77, as he and his wife made a stop at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, on Friday while visiting family.
Stock markets worldwide careened even lower Friday after 罢谤耻尘辫鈥檚 in tariffs in an . The sweeping new tariffs, on top of worldwide, are also expected to increase
Herneisen, who lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and his wife, Cathy Herneisen, a 74-year-old retired Verizon worker, are living on a mix of pension, Social Security and an individual retirement account, or IRA. He said that for now they aren鈥檛 cutting back, but his wife clarified that even holding steady means cutting back.
鈥淧rices are higher, but I am still spending the same amount of money,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 am sticking with the grocery budget, and that means that I鈥檓 cutting back on prepared food, so I鈥檓 buying the products themselves so it is hurting people who run a small business that sell their pre-made food."
They live in a Republican-leaning area of the swing state but neither voted for Trump, who has said Americans may feel because of tariffs, but that the long-term goals, including getting more manufacturing jobs back to the U.S., are worth it.
Chad NeSmith, a portfolio manager at Tobias Financial Advisors in Plantation, Florida, just outside of Fort Lauderdale, said that they'd been fielding calls from clients for the last couple of days and the calls were increasing on Friday.
鈥淔ear is really picking up, especially since we have the retaliatory tariff from China," he said.
NeSmith said most clients just had general questions, checking up on what they should be doing with their portfolios. 鈥淲e鈥檙e taking it on a call-by-call basis,鈥� he said.
NeSmith said retirees generally have a little bit less risk in their portfolios and bonds have been performing well in the volatility.
鈥淭he overall theme that we鈥檙e really getting at is you really have to be aware of your risk tolerance and your financial plan, and you needed to do that going into this so that way you can ride through this volatility that we鈥檙e seeing right now,鈥� he said.
Colleen Power, a 57-year-old payroll specialist from Kansas City, Missouri, is hopeful will recover before she retires.
鈥淲e have our things situated in a way that we will probably survive,鈥� she said. 鈥淣ow, in general, yes, I am definitely worried for the country. But I mean, on a personal level, I don鈥檛 have a whole lot of stress about that at the moment.鈥�
But Power, a Democrat, finds the situation frustrating nonetheless. 鈥淣one of this is in any way surprising on any level, in any way, and all I can do is do the best I can in my local area and hope for the best," she said.
Paul Brahim, an advisor at Wealth Enhancement Group in Pittsburgh, said, 鈥淯ncertainty is frightening, not knowing is scary and people are asking the same question all the time: 鈥楢m I going to be OK?鈥欌��
He said that for a recent retiree who hasn't started taking Social Security yet and is living off the cash flow from assets, watching that value decline in just a few days is 鈥渇rightening.鈥�
But, he said, if they have prepared well, there should be reserves in place. 鈥淲e should have cash in reserve that we can use while we allow that portfolio to heal," he said.
Brahim, president of the Financial Planning Association, a membership organization for certified financial planners, said most of his clients have broadly diversified portfolios and, looking back over the last year, they've had positive returns. 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to just put it into perspective, that helps with the fear,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important that we take a breath and that we pause through uncertainty before we make adjustments to our portfolio,鈥� he said. 鈥淟et the dust settle.鈥�
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Stengle contributed to this story from Dallas.
Heather Hollingsworth And Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press
