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The market volatility experienced in early April may have left some investors feeling a bit unnerved.

While many tried-and-true strategies, such as “stay the course,” are still relevant today, there are three additional strategies available to investors that may help take the sting out of lower retirement and investment balances.

1. Retirees: Turn off systematic withdrawal plans

Many retirees use systematic withdrawal plans (SWPs) to generate monthly income. These plans automatically liquidate a specified dollar amount of mutual fund investments and deposit the cash proceeds into a money market or other interest-bearing account.

In most markets, these arrangements work fine, but during a sharp market decline, retirees must be wary of “reverse dollar-cost averaging.” Lower mutual fund values mean an increasing number of units need to be sold to generate the specified amount of monthly income.

As a result, when the markets recover, there are fewer units participating in future appreciation.

We suggest pausing these programs for now and taking a deliberate approach to generating cash flow. Consider that the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index, which is a common benchmark used to evaluate the bond market, has a positive year-to-date return through April 16, 2025.

Retirees in need of monthly income may be well served by cashing in a larger portion of bond investments, giving stock investments that may be struggling more time to recover.

At first glance, this strategy may sound counterintuitive because it creates a more aggressive asset allocation at a time when most retirees are looking to derisk their portfolios.

To be clear, a wholesale change to individual portfolios is not what we are recommending. Rather, investors may want to consider a short-term fix to avoid selling stocks at the worst possible time — immediately after they have dropped in value.

Of course, if the markets begin to decline rapidly again, more drastic measures may be necessary to ensure sustainable cash flow throughout one’s lifetime.

2. Wealth accumulators: Cherry-pick specific investments for Roth conversions

Investors who are saving for retirement may have a traditional IRA or an employer-sponsored retirement plan such as a 401(k) or 403(b). When these balances are substantially lower may be an ideal time to consider a Roth conversion.

Conversions trigger an immediate income tax liability, but the future growth accumulates income tax-free.

Importantly, the Roth IRA conversion does not have to be an all-or-nothing decision. In fact, investors can choose the portion of the account and, in most cases, the specific securities they wish to convert.

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