If you’re watching the market bounce around and wondering whether you’re still on track for retirement, you’re not alone. Volatility shakes confidence. It makes even smart investors second-guess their strategy. It raises questions. Do I have enough saved? Is my portfolio too risky? What happens if there’s another downturn just before I stop working?
These aren’t abstract concerns. They’re real issues with long-term consequences. And if you’re nearing retirement age, they’re probably keeping you up at night.
One of the most helpful tools right now isn’t another market forecast or financial newsletter. It’s a retirement readiness quiz.
Yes, a quiz.
Not a gimmick. A well-designed quiz can do something many people skip, which is to force you to stop, think, and be honest with yourself about your goals, your money, and what might need adjusting before you call it quits.
What Does “Retirement Readiness” Actually Mean?
Retirement readiness isn’t just about hitting a number. It’s about whether your income, expenses, health care needs, investment risk, and lifestyle expectations all line up. And planning for elements you cannot control — like a market crash, inflation spike, or unexpected medical bills.
The Investopedia definition puts it simply: financial literacy is knowing how to budget, invest, manage debt, and plan for retirement. That last one — planning for retirement — is the part that trips people up. It’s not just math. It’s emotion, timing, risk tolerance, and confidence.
And when markets are volatile, all those things get harder to measure.
What a Retirement Readiness Quiz Reveals
A quiz isn’t going to give you a magic number or investment tip. That’s not the point. A good retirement readiness quiz – like the one developed by Fragasso Financial Advisors on their website: CanYouAffordtoRetire.com – makes you think about the questions you should already be asking.
Not just “How much do I have saved?” but:
- What income sources will I have in retirement?
- How long do I expect that income to last?
- Have I accounted for taxes, inflation, and health care?
- If the market drops 20% next year, will I be forced to change my plans?
These aren’t hypothetical. They’re pressure tests. Thinking about these things reveals whether your plan is flexible enough to absorb shocks — or whether it only works if everything goes exactly right.
Why Market Volatility Makes This More Important
When the market’s stable, you might not notice gaps in your planning. But volatility acts like a stress test. It exposes risks. Sequence-of-returns risk, in particular, becomes more dangerous as you near retirement. That’s the risk that your portfolio loses value early in retirement, and you’re forced to sell investments at a loss to fund your living expenses — permanently damaging your future income stream.
A quiz makes you think about investment withdrawal timing, market stress, and income flexibility can make those vulnerabilities more obvious. That’s valuable. Because once you see it, you can adjust before it’s too late.
The Psychology of “I Think I’m Ready”
Most people believe they’re financially literate. But the data doesn’t always agree. A 2022 study from the TIAA Institute and GFLEC found that the average U.S. adult answered just 50% of financial literacy questions correctly.1 Even among people over 50 – those closest to retirement – many struggled with questions about investment risk, inflation, and longevity planning. Taking a retirement assessment quiz can help break through that false sense of security. And when these questions arise, you will need to speak to an actual financial advisor to get the best answers to these questions.
Common Gaps That Show Up in the Quiz
Here are a few things that could be of a concern for someone that would prompt them to take a retirement readiness quiz during a volatile market:
- Overestimating portfolio stability. Assuming recent gains are permanent. Forgetting how fast things can reverse.
- Underestimating inflation’s long-term effect. A 3% inflation rate over 25 years cuts purchasing power nearly in half. A formalized financial plan can remind you of that.
- Missing health care costs. Medicare doesn’t cover everything. Most people underestimate how much they’ll pay out of pocket.
- Not knowing how to turn savings into income. Many people know how to save but have no plan for structured withdrawal.
The quiz isn’t a solution — it’s a mirror. It reflects the areas where you might need professional help or a second look at your plan.
When Should You Take a Quiz Like This?
Now. Especially if you’re within 10 years of retirement. Even more if you’re within five. Or already retired and wondering if your drawdown strategy still makes sense.
Market volatility is a good reason to reassess. But you don’t have to wait for the market to move. The sooner you know where you stand, the more time you have to fix what’s not working.
The Quiz Isn’t a Replacement for Planning — It’s the Starting Point
Taking a quiz won’t give you a financial plan. It won’t rebalance your portfolio or file your taxes. But it will help you figure out what kind of plan you need — and where the weak spots are. Think of it as an introductory point to solidifying your path to a happy retirement. You wouldn’t build a retirement plan around a Buzzfeed-style quiz. But you also wouldn’t ignore a clear warning sign if it showed up in your results. It’s about awareness.
Why a Retirement Readiness Quiz Is Especially Useful in Uncertain Times
In stable markets, people assume the future will look like the recent past. When volatility returns, assumptions break. That’s when people start asking better questions. The quiz helps guide you to the proper financial advisor that can prepare you. It adds structure. You can take it in a few minutes, but the value comes from what it after the quiz – when you are meeting with your new financial advisor.
If you’re looking for a place to start, or if you’ve been asking yourself if you’re still on track but haven’t done anything about it yet, this quiz is worth a look.
Final Thought
Retirement planning is hard enough when everything goes right. When markets get rough, it gets harder. A retirement readiness quiz won’t solve your problems. But the connect you make from the quiz results might help you see them – clearly, quickly, and take action to prepare for what’s next.
That’s the kind of tool that matters right now.
1 https://gflec.org/initiatives/personal-finance-index/
Investment advice offered by investment advisor representatives through Fragasso Financial Advisors, a registered investment advisor.
