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The FIRE Exit
Glossary

Sequence-of-returns risk

The danger that a run of poor returns early in retirement does lasting damage, because you are selling investments while prices are low. The same average return can leave you fine or broke depending on the order the years arrive.

What it means for you

It is why the first few years after you stop working are the most fragile, and why a cash buffer helps.

My take

I retired into two drops — 2022 and spring 2025 — and did nothing different: lived on the cash, sold smaller pieces until it recovered. No headaches, no stress. That's what the buffer is for.

See it in numbersThe First Bad Decade Two identical futures in a different order: why the first ten years, not the average, decide whether the money lasts.

Every term, in plain English, on one page — the full glossary. Education, not advice.

Bring me a challenge.

The Exit Audit, then ninety minutes: a straight verdict, real alternatives with their pros and cons, and your first move. If you want someone to nod along, I’m the wrong person to pay.

How the sessions work

Ninety minutes, online, €600 — the Exit Audit included.