• Baby boomers' hopes of retiring comfortably could be at risk if stocks keep falling.
• Older Americans could be forced to delay retirement, resume working, or cut back on spending.
• Retirement gurus shared a range of strategies to preserve their nest eggs.

Baby boomers' dreams of a comfy retirement are in jeopardy as a flagging stock market threatens to spoil their plans.

The benchmark S&P 500 index dropped 10% between February 19 and March 13 — a seven-month low — fueled by fears that the Trump administration's policies could tip the economy into recession. It's still in the red for 2025.

The sell-off has pinched older Americans' portfolios, shrinking their nest eggs and stoking worries about affording the retirement they imagined.

Most boomers are in their 60s and 70s, getting ready to exit the workforce or already in early retirement. They own stocks worth nearly $20 trillion — almost half the US market — between their direct holdings and 401(k)s, David Rosenberg, the president of Rosenberg Research and former chief North American economist at Merrill Lynch, told Business Insider.

They've "ridden the wave with nary a move to take profits, diversify, or rebalance," leaving them heavily exposed to market downturns and with limited time to recover losses, he said.

If their portfolios keep declining while they're withdrawing money to cover living expenses, they won't recover fully even if the market rebounds — a danger known as "sequence of return risk."

Rosenberg warned that if the pullback continues, "many will be forced to re-enter the labor market— packing bags at their local Walmart."

Those who refuse to sell stocks could find themselves "cutting back their retirement lifestyle spending like it's nobody's business — wave bye-bye to cruise lines, tablets/e-readers, and cosmetic surgeries," he wrote in a research note this week.

Sweeping fallout

"If these portfolio losses continue, we could be looking at a retirement crisis," Tim Schmidt, the founder and CEO of Gold IRA Custodians, told BI.

Millions might have to delay retirement by three to five years, creating a "workforce bottleneck" that blocks younger employees from advancing, he said. "For individuals, the consequences could be devastating — depleted savings, increased debt, and psychological distress."

Selling at lows might lock in permanent losses, Schmidt continued. Reduced spending could create a "negative feedback loop" that results in slimmer corporate profits, job losses, further asset price declines, pressure on housing markets as retirees abandon downsizing plans, and younger generations having to support parents whose "retirement funds have evaporated," he added.

Dan Doonan, the executive director of the National Institute on Retirement Security, said widespread delays in retirement could make it harder for businesses to control costs. If a recession hits, people might respond by saving less for retirement, further reducing their chances of comfort in old age.

The whole economy could suffer if retirees cut back when consumer spending is already under pressure. Markets could also be hit if more people are selling stocks to cover living costs, Mark Hamrick, Bankrate's senior economic advisor and Washington bureau chief, told BI.

Prepare for trouble

Current and future retirees might be tempted to cash out, fearing further declines for stocks. However, "making impulsive decisions, like pulling out of investments in a panic, can disrupt years of careful planning," Judith Ward, a thought leadership director at T. Rowe Price and a certified financial planner, told BI.

The "urge to react is high" in uncertain times, but overhauling investments or fleeing markets can backfire, Rita Assaf, a vice president of Fidelity Investments' retirement division, told BI. Investing too conservatively can result in less retirement income and a tougher time keeping pace with inflation, she said.

Doonan noted that markets typically recover within a few years, so "fear selling after prices collapse and buying back in after it 'feels safe' can leave you selling low and buying high."

However, Rosenberg urged boomers to "get their heads out of the sand" and recognize that bull markets don't last forever. He said the "best way to cushion the blow right now is to finally start the process of de-risking their portfolios and shift into cash, bonds and gold."

Assaf recommended a "diversified income plan" where a retiree covers essential costs such as food and housing with guaranteed income sources that keep up with inflation, such as Social Security and annuities. Then savings can be spent on non-essentials such as travel and hobbies, which are easier to cut back if required.

Bonds buffer

She recommended withdrawing no more than 4% to 5% of one's assets a year, and planning to cover healthcare expenses that typically exceed $165,000 from age 65 onward.

Ward advised maintaining a long-term view, rebalancing portfolios ahead of retirement to include more bonds as a "buffer" against volatility, automating contributions, and looking to cut expenses or delay large purchases in a down market.

She recommended having a separate cash account to avoid selling assets when prices are low, and considering working more years or having part-time jobs or side hustles in retirement to increase savings and delay withdrawals.

Sabino Vargas, a senior financial adviser at Vanguard, told BI that older investors can set themselves up for a successful retirement by ramping up contributions to their employer-sponsored plans, building a health savings account, and tapping their home equity if they move to a cheaper housing market.

Hamrick said investors should regularly review their risk appetite, asset allocation, and investment time horizon to make sure they're on track. He also advised paying down debts and boosting emergency savings to weather hard times.

Boomers rode the bull market to riches, but stocks don't care about their retirement plans. Unless they protect their nest eggs, they risk spending their golden years bagging groceries instead of lounging on the beach.

• Terry Crews said he and his wife managed to rebuild their marriage.
• They have been married for 36 years but nearly split for good years ago due to his infidelity and porn addiction.
• "It's work. It's really work. You have to get better at it, it's a skill," Crews said.

Terry Crews and his wife, Rebecca King-Crews, know just how much effort goes into making a marriage work.

In an interview with People, the actor spoke about how they overcame all the challenges they faced in their years together.

"Me and my wife have been married 36 years and, at year 20 though, it was over. And we totally rebuilt our relationship," Crews told People. "And we decided we were going to be stronger together. It was a decision that we decided to make."

The couple got married in 1989, several years before Crews joined the NFL, and two decades before he made the transition to acting. They have five children together.

The "White Chicks" star added that love isn't just about feelings.

"It's work. It's really work. You have to get better at it, it's a skill," Crews said. "There's a lot of things I had to relearn."

He says he thinks of him and his wife as a "testament" to the fact that two people can make a relationship work as long as they are both willing to tough it out.

"It's wild because there was a point when, when I wanted to quit, she didn't want to, and then when she wanted to quit, I didn't want to," he said. "And I was just glad we didn't want to quit at the same time."

This isn't the first time that Crews has spoken about the challenges he faced in his marriage.

Crews shared how his past infidelity and porn addiction had affected his family during an episode of Dax Shepard's"Armchair Expert" podcast in 2023.

Crews said he would "start an argument" with his wife whenever she tried to ask him questions about where he was when he was feeding his porn addiction at adult bookstores near truck stops. He would also "be angry" at his kids "for getting in the way."

He also said he cheated on his wife by getting a handjob in a massage parlor while filming his first-ever movie in 2000, and "kept that secret for years."

He eventually decided to confess to his wife about the cheating a decade later when he began seeking help for his porn addiction. Although she left him at that time, they eventually reconciled after Crews went to rehab.

Crews and his wife aren't the only celebrities who have spoken about the steps they take to build and maintain a healthy relationship.

Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey don't go more than two weeks without seeing each other and their family.

Rob Lowe, who has been married to Sheryl Berkoff for over 30 years, said they go to couples therapy regularly because "it's like taking your car in and making sure the engine's running great."

Barbara Grossman, a couples counselor, previously told Business Insider that her tips for a successful marriage include sharing emotional baggage, carving time out to be together, and actively communicating grievances.

"I encourage people to talk about their past because it usually reveals the historical reasons for their behavior, opinions, and attitudes," Grossman said. "If you open up about situations — including unresolved feelings toward a family member, friend, or lover — it develops understanding, trust, and connection."

A representative for Crews did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.

• Financial firms seek to hire thousands of skilled foreign workers through H-1B visas each year.
• President Trump's immigration crackdown is raising questions about the future of such visas.
• See which financial firms file for the most H-1B visas, according to publicly available data.

As President Donald Trump follows through on his campaign promises to crack down on immigration, questions remain about what might happen to skilled workers who come to the US on H-1B visas.

Trump targeted the H-1B visa program in his first term when he signed the "Buy American, Hire American" executive order to rein in potential abuses. Ahead of the second term, however, he told the New York Post that he "always liked the visas," which US companies use to hire foreign workers with specialized skills, often in science and technology.

"I've been a believer in H-1B," he told The Post in December. "I have used it many times. It's a great program."

Still, the future of the program remains very much up in the air: Last week two Republican senators introduced a joint resolution to strike down a Biden-era rule allowing such visas to be automatically extended for 540 days, instead of 180 days.

As such, Business Insider has run the numbers to find out which US financial services companies stand to be most impacted if these visas are tamped down again. BI used data from the Department of Labor and US Citizenship and Immigration data to analyze which financial giants file the most H-1B requests. The data runs through the 2024 government fiscal year (the fourth quarter of 2023 through the third quarter of 2024) and is collected from applications submitted by businesses that wish to sponsor a skilled worker's visa.

We found that some of the largest banks, credit card companies, and asset managers are among the most active sponsors of these visas, including JPMorgan and BlackRock. While many of the filings seek tech and software workers, some firms have used them to hire investment bankers or investment professionals.

Of course, not all filings lead to a foreign-worker hire and some filings may actually be for the same hire as firms will refile to reflect amendments or to extend an existing visa. Still, the publicly available data provides a good indication of the H-1B visa demand among major companies.

The firms listed either did not respond to a request for comment or declined to comment on the record.

Check out which financial firms are sponsoring the most H-1B visas, including the types of roles they are seeking to fill:

1. JPMorgan Chase

Total certified H-1B filings: 1,990

Total employees worldwide: 317,233 as of the end of 2024

Types of filings: More than 1,500 filings are for workers with "software" in their title. The firm also hired for roles like a vice president of investment banking, an executive director of liquidity risk management, and a managing director of client fraud prevention

2. Fidelity

Total certified H-1B filings: 1,839

Total employees worldwide: More than 76,000 per a January press release

Types of filings: More than 40% of filings contain the word software in their job title, and many other filings are related to tech as well, such as a director-level AI employee. The company also filed for a director of quantitative analysis and even some accounting roles through the program.

3. Goldman Sachs

Total certified H-1B filings: 1,443

Total employees worldwide: 46,500

Types of filings: Slightly more than a quarter of Goldman's filings are for roles that contain the word software. The company has also hired some divisional COO and CFOs through the program, as well as managing directors in areas like banking and financial crime control.

4. Citi

Total certified H-1B filings: 1,058

Total employees worldwide: 239,000

Types of filings: Many of the filings are for tech roles, like software engineering, application development, and information technology roles. Other filings include a regulatory risk group manager and even a trader.

5. Capital One

Total certified H-1B filings: 758

Total employees worldwide: 51,987 at the end of 2023

Types of filings: Most of Capital One's filings are for tech roles, as well as adjacent roles like a quantitative analysis manager and a range of data science roles.

6. Morgan Stanley

Total certified H-1B filings: 642

Total employees worldwide: More than 80,000 per its website

Types of filings: Morgan Stanley does not include job title information in their filings, only the level of seniority. The filings range from the associate level all the way up to managing director.

7. Barclays

Total certified H-1B filings: 609

Total employees worldwide: Approximately 85,000 per its corporate website

Types of filings: Most of Barclay's filings are for tech roles, but the company has also hired for director roles in global markets, equity derivatives structuring and for a credit desk quant role.

8. Visa

Total certified H-1B filings: 587

Total employees worldwide: 31,600 as of a December 4, 2024 report

Types of filngs: The vast majority of filings are for tech roles, like a senior machine learning engineer and a wide variety of software engineers. Other filings include a senior M&A manager and a senior finance manager.

9. American Express

Total certified H-1B filings: 575

Total employees worldwide: 74,000 per a 2024 press release

Types of filings: Nearly a third of AmEx's filings are for manager roles, the vast majority of those are in tech and data science portions of the business. The company has also filed for director roles in investment management and marketing analytics through the program.

10. Bank of America

Total certified H-1B filings: 500

Total employees worldwide: 213,193 as of the end of last year

Types of filings: Similar to others on the list, most of Bank of America's H-1B filings are for tech roles, but the company has also hired a credit senior officer at a director role, and an associate general counsel and VP who works with financial derivatives.

11. Wells Fargo

Total certified H-1B filings: 453

Total employees worldwide: 220,167 employees as of the end of Q3 2024

Types of filings: Nearly 300 of Wells Fargo's filings are for roles with software in the title, but the firm had also filed for roles like a construction management director and a lead securities trader.

12. Mastercard

Total certified H-1B filings: 447

Total employees worldwide: 33,400 employees at the end of 2023 per an annual report

Types of filings: Mastercard has made 220 H-1B filings for roles with software in the title, while another 64 include product in the name. Other filings include roles like a vice president of marketing, strategy, and operations, and a commercial counsel role.

13. Charles Schwab

Total certified H-1B filings: 429

Total employees worldwide: 32,100 employees as of the end of the third quarter of last year

Types of filing: More than 80% of roles have software in the name, though the company has also filed for director roles in business strategy, market risk management and treasury capital markets.

14. BlackRock

Total certified H-1B filings: 354

Total employees worldwide: more than 20,000 globally

Types of filings: The vast majority of BlackRock's H-1B filings only note the role level. Some specific roles were highlighted, like an external relationship management associate and a sustainable investing associate.

15. UBS

Total certified H-1B filings: 294

Total employees worldwide: 109,396 as of end of third quarter last year

Types of filing: UBS has filed for a range of tech roles as well as direct business roles, such as an alternative investments strategy director and director of investment banking.

• Fidelity's Contrafund valued its stakes in SpaceX at $2.7 billion at the end of 2024, per filings.
• The mutual fund giant first invested in Elon Musk's space company via its 2015 Series G.
• Fidelity invests in startups and large companies through dozens of mutual funds.

SpaceX's valuation is soaring — at least according to one investment giant. Fidelity, which invests in startups and large companies alike via dozens of mutual funds, is valuing its stakes in Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies at $2.7 billion.

Fidelity's SpaceX stakes — which include Class A and C shares in Fidelity's Contrafund, as well as Series G, H, and N shares — were revealed in a December filing report published by the investment company at the end of January.

Cumulatively, this would make SpaceX the 11th-largest holding in the $160 billion Contrafund, ahead of Visa, JPMorgan, and Broadcom. As it stands, SpaceX's Series G shares are the 23rd-largest holding in the fund.

Fidelity's Contrafund first invested in SpaceX during its 2015 Series G funding round, which valued the company at $12 billion, according to Wall Street Journal reports. An annual report said the Contrafund paid $43,239,000 on January 20, 2015, for 558,215 shares.

At the end of last December, the Contrafund valued those Series G shares at $1,032,697,750 — a whopping 2,288% return over a decade.

Given SpaceX's $12 billion valuation at the time of its Series G fundraise in 2015, the Contrafund is signaling SpaceX's valuation to be north of $286 billion — larger than Coca-Cola and Chevron.

In December, SpaceX was valued at $350 billion following a secondary share sale.

2024 was a banner year for Musk, who supported President Donald Trump's reelection and secured a leadership role in the Trump administration. Musk's social media platform, X, has also provided a lucrative source of training data for his AI startup, xAI, which raised $6 billion in Series C funding in December.

Fidelity's Contrafund increased the value of its SpaceX stake during this period: Filings indicate it valued the company's Series G shares at $541.5 million in December 2023 and increased their value by 15.5%, to $625 million, in June.

Those shares were valued at $1,032,697,750 at the end of last December, a 65% increase from June and a 91% increase year over year.

Representatives for SpaceX and Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Correction: February 3, 2025 — An earlier version of this story described outdated valuations of two companies. They have been removed.

Asset management firm Fidelity slashed the estimated worth of its stake in business messaging platform Gupshup by another 7.7% last month, lowering the value of its holding in the SaaS startup by a total of more than 65% since its investment in mid-2021. One of the funds operated by the U.S. asset manager valued its […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

• Recent filings show that Fidelity once again boosted the valuation of its stakes in X and xAI.
• It was the third month in a row that the valuations of these two Musk companies rose.
• xAI recently raised $6 billion in new funding, with participation from Fidelity.

Fidelity has lifted its valuation of two Elon Musk-controlled tech companies even higher, according to recent filings.

This was the third month in a row that the mutual-fund giant raised the value of its stakes in xAI and the social-media platform X, the filings show.

The Fidelity Blue Chip Growth Fund valued its xAI shares at $79,857,865 at the end of November, a monthly report posted at the end of December said. That's a 6.4% increase from October, when the fund valued its stake in xAI at $75,062,706, and an increase from September, when the value was $44,152,362.

The fund's annual report, published at the end of September, said that at the end of July it owned 3,688,585 xAI shares, which were acquired on May 13 for $44,152,000.

However, xAI recently closed a hotly anticipated funding round that Fidelity participated in alongside A16z, BlackRock, Kingdom Holding, Lightspeed, and other investors. xAI confirmed the $6 billion round in a blog post on December 23.

It's unclear how many shares of xAI the Blue Chip Growth Fund has now, but previous filings showed that the price from September to October rose to $20.35 a pop from $11.96.

Musk's X deal has recovered some losses

Fidelity's Blue Chip Growth Fund also increased the value of its shares in X in November to $5,797,734, according to the filings. That's about a 5% increase from October, when shares were valued at $5,530,358, and a 39% increase from September, when Fidelity valued its stake in X at $4,185,614.

Musk's 2022 acquisition was panned as one of the most overvalued tech acquisitions in recent memory. But the deal has provided significant benefits for Musk. After using X to support Donald Trump's reelection, he's set to wield considerable influence in the incoming Trump administration.

X has also been a lucrative source of training data for xAI, which has used content on the social-media platform to develop powerful AI models that compete with similar offerings from OpenAI, Google and other tech companies.

But the X deal still hasn't worked out that well for investors, at least not yet.

Despite three straight months of increases, Fidelity still values its X stake far lower than it did in late 2022, when Musk purchased X for $44 billion. Earlier filings indicate Fidelity's Blue Chip Growth Fund at the time invested $19.66 million.

Representatives for Fidelity declined to comment on Monday. Representatives for X and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

• Elon Musk's xAI reportedly closed a $5 billion funding round last month at a $50 billion valuation.
• A Fidelity fund has boosted the value of its shares in xAI by 70%, according to filings.
• The fund also boosted the value of its shares in Musk-owned social media platform X by 32.4%.

Fidelity increased the value of its shares in two Elon Musk-owned companies in October, social media platform X and startup xAI, according to filings.

The financial giant, which invests in startups and large corporations through multiple mutual funds, has stakes in both companies via its Blue Chip Growth Fund.

That fund valued its xAI shares at $75,062,706 at the end of October, according to filings released publicly at the end of November. The fund had 3,688,585 shares at the end of July, according to an annual filing from August, which means the shares are currently valued at $20.35 each.

Last month, the fund valued its xAI shares at $44,152,362, or $11.96 each. That's a 70% jump from September to October.

Representatives for Fidelity did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Fidelity's October markup for OpenAI rival, xAI, foreshadowed what turned out to be a huge month for Musk, who was tapped as President-elect Donald Trump's government efficiency boss in early November.

Later in the month, xAI closed a hotly anticipated $5 billion funding round reportedly from Qatar's sovereign-wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority, as well as VC firms Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz, the Wall Street Journal reported.

xAI is now valued at $50 billion, which is more than double the $24 billion valuation it received earlier this year after its $6 billion Series B funding round.

The AI startup has made up significant ground on its rivals by using X as a source of third-party data, one of the main sources for training large language models.

Fidelity also bumped up the value of its X shares to $5,530,358 in October, according to the November filing. The bump followed months of Fidelity lowering the value of its shares of X.

The fund had 196,600 Class A shares of X at the end of July, according to an annual filing from August. That means the fund is currently valuing its shares of X at $28.13 a piece, which is a 32.4% jump from the previous month when the fund valued its X shares at $4,185,614, or $21.29 a pop.

Previously, Fidelity's value of X shares had dropped more than 80% compared to two years ago, when Musk, in October 2022, purchased X for $44 billion. While critics initially said he 'overpaid' for the social media platform, it is starting to bear fruit — including supporting his AI ambitions and winning favor with Trump.

At the time of the purchase, the Blue Chip Growth Fund invested $19.66 million, according to filings. Assuming the investment was made at X's $44 billion valuation, the fund last month estimated X's total value to be around $9.4 billion. For October, X's value is now estimated to be around $12.5 billion.

Fidelity's value in OpenAI, meanwhile, remained mostly unchanged from September to October. At least five Fidelity funds have a stake in the AI juggernaut, and Fidelity participated in OpenAI's $6.6 billion funding round to the tune of at least $100 million.

Four of the five funds held the same value for its OpenAI shares, and the firm's Stock Selector All Cap Fund increased the value of its investment slightly to $584,180, up from $580,570.

Representatives for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.