Retirees should not listen to Investopedia’s recent financial advice. It is contained in the article: Retirees: 7 Lessons from 2008 If There Is Another Crisis. They should, at least, think for themselves and consider the opposite view. I am not an investment counselor or attorney, so I am not giving advice, merely trying to get older people to reconsider the bullish advice.

I find Investopedia to be quite helpful on many issues, as it has brief, clear cut definitions of terms and concepts used in the financial world, as well as great articles on finance.

The Investopedia article in question was written by Tim Parker in February, 2016.  So, this was posted after the decline of oil and food prices has been in full swing. China is bleeding money trying to prop up the Yuan, and Europe and Japan are suffering negative interest rates.

Yet, Investopedia is being quite bullish with the Parker article. The article speaks to some various strategies, not all suspect for the older crowd. For example, the concepts of hedging, not being in stocks only, keeping calm, and diversity are all good concepts. If anything, the author is hedging his bullish comments.

But other advice given, such as sitting still, preparing to buy, and not hoarding cash, are not consistent with turbulent times and retirees. Return of capital is paramount in turbulent times. Tim Parker does not really acknowledge that. His advice would likely be helpful to young people, who have time to turn around mistakes in investing. Older folks have no such time.

I could not find any information that contributors do or do not speak for Investopedia. I would assume that front page articles are vetted by editors. Again, this is not a criticism of the website in total, just about the concerns I have about the advice given in this particular article.

Of course, Investopedia often gives good advice, to the investment community. They say beware of new Alt-A liar loans. That is a great piece of advice, as doing the same thing over and over again with the same disastrous results as what happened prior to the Great Recession is the definition of insanity.