Bessent claims retirees not worried market rout will decimate their savings

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent claimed Sunday that those who are headed towards retirement are not worried about the current turmoil in the stock market.

“I think that’s a false narrative,” he told Kristen Welker on NBC News’ Meet the Press. “Americans who want to retire right now, the Americans who put away for years in their savings accounts, I think they don’t look at the day-to-day fluctuations.”

But try dismissing any negative market movements to those who rank running out of money during their retirement as their biggest financial concern and the 40% of respondents to a recent survey who cited asset protection as their priority.

Add to this a generally downbeat tone about the direction of the economy, the potential for rising prices, and an increase in Social Security’s COLA that is likely to be below inflation (The Senior Citizens League now expects this to be 2.2% for 2026.)

Bessent’s point was that the current market reaction to Trump’s tariffs are short-term issues that should not mean long-term damage to retirement savings.

He also said that the markets often underestimate Trump and the administration is rebuilding America’s long-term prosperity which he believes was headed for “financial calamity” under Biden. He confirmed that the president will “hold the course” and promised inflation would come down, although provided no timescale for when that might be expected.

But his dismissal of the concerns of retirees drew an angry response from Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif) who was also on the NBC program and referred to “retirement savings on fire” and pointing out that Bessent and the president do not have to worry about their retirement savings.

Those facing decades living on a fixed income, often without the means to augment it, frequently express concerns about it being insufficient, but this has been exacerbated recently by concerns about Social Security, even if some of the fears are through a lack of knowledge.