I’m a Boomer: The 6 Impacts of Tariff Uncertainty on My Retirement (2025)

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The uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs on many American trading partners has caused volatility in the U.S. and global stock markets. While the impacts of tariffs will affect every American, retirees are the most immediately affected, especially those who currently draw their income from the retirement accounts that have been significantly affected by recent tariff-related stock market dips.

Rod Pintello, age 79, a retired former director of materials in hospitals who is based in California, has watched his retirement accounts lose around $14,000 in just the past couple of weeks alone.

Pintello considers himself and his wife among the luckier of retired people — they both have pensions from their former jobs, withdraw a monthly sum from their 401(k) and receive the maximum they’re eligible for from Social Security. Yet he finds himself “nervous” about the future of his retirement accounts, which not only support him and his wife’s retirement, but are intended to be passed on to their adult children.

Negotiating Market Losses

This isn’t the first time Pintello has seen a sharp drop in his 401(k) related to government policies, either. “Unfortunately, during the first Trump administration, [my 401(k)] dropped about 30% during the first six months he became president. It took all this time to claw its way back up to the top again to where it was, but now [Trump’s] doing it with the tariffs…”

He credited former President Joe Biden’s administration with bringing his retirement accounts back up to normal.

Shifting Funds

Pintello is concerned enough about future drops in his 401(k) that he’s considered more drastic moves with his retirement funds if the market continues to wobble.

“I’ve done all the math. If right now I took the full payment of my 401(k) and and paid the taxes on it, then I could put it in CDs and get enough money in there so that I wouldn’t lose anything. I also wouldn’t gain.”

It’s not the move he wants to make, but it’s hard to know what the future will bring. “We’ve held our breaths and just lived through the failures like this over the years, and then I have to wait for another administration to come in to build it back up. And they do.”

Stockpiling for the Future

Fears of even higher costs of living as a result of tariffs have Pintello and his wife doing something he never thought “at this late age” that he would be doing: “stockpiling stuff.”

“This is the first time ever in our lives that we are gathering up things that we know there was a shortage on during the pandemic and things like that,” he said.

They’ve been buying extra toilet paper, coffee, canned goods and even ibuprofen — since many of the components for medications are manufactured in China and may go up in price significantly.

Negotiating Bills

In addition to these strategies, Pintello and his wife have been looking at every possible way to reduce expenses. He already reevaluates his bills on an annual basis, finding that he can save hundreds of dollars a year by negotiating better deals on things like cable, utilities, internet and cellular service.

If there’s a bill they can cut, he’s happy to be ruthless about it. He plans on confronting PG&E about why his energy bill has recently skyrocketed, despite having solar panels.

Social Security Fears

Though not related to tariffs, Pintello’s “second biggest worry” is the future of Social Security. Not only do he and his wife get the highest amount they’re eligible for, having waited until full retirement age to claim benefits, but their Medicare health insurance is paid through Social Security. He worries that the Trump administration’s changes could impact the security of these funds. “That would be about 40% of our monthly income if we lost Social Security” he said.

While Trump has said he doesn’t plan to cut Social Security, staffing cuts at the Social Security Administration made by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have caused Pintello and other retirees concern.

Preparing For Catastrophe

While Pintello doesn’t want to fear the worst, he and his wife are nonetheless planning for grander catastrophe. “What if the power goes out here for the next month or something, because we don’t know what [this administration is] going to do with our infrastructure. What if all of a sudden the banks fail and PG&E fails and the real recession or depression hits?”

In addition to stockpiling canned goods, he’s got extra cases of water in his garage. “It’s like emergency planning, as if there’s an earthquake or a huge fire. You’ve got to have supplies.”

While Trump did issue a 90-day pause on some of his tariffs, bringing the markets back up from their worst recent lows, retirees like Pintello are not banking on market stability and doing what they can to safeguard their funds.