However, another thing that the Secure Act did was it got rid of what was called “the Stretch IRA”. Prior to this law going into effect, if someone died and their child inherited a retirement account from them, the child could then use their own life expectancy to decide how much they needed to take out of the account. So if you had a 38 year old child, you had 45 years to take the amount out, as needed over that time. If you think about that, that money is growing as it's sitting in that account. So it was a great opportunity to pass wealth on to children. But unfortunately the Secure Act did away with this “Stretch IRA.”

As you might have heard, yes, we’re officially in a bear market. A bear market is when stocks decline at least 20% off of their recent high. This chart shows all bear markets since 1930, how long the bear market lasted and how long it took the market to recover. Try not to get too discouraged and remember that the stock market always recovers, even if it takes a little while.