Thanks for the replies. The case is hypothetical. I am planning to retire in 2 years, and my husband will continue with his business, but I want to retire when we hit 2 Million. I'd say I am a pessimistic person that is thinking of a very bad case scenario and would like to hear opinions. I dont want to work where I work now anymore, too many reasons, and working somewhere else is not an option as I am in the middle east where no part time choices are available, and I could not work full time for anyone ( I am done).
Then what you need to do is make the appropriate plan to retire. There are tons of ways to mitigate sequence of returns risk so that your hypothetical is literally impossible, which is what we're all saying.
It doesn't help you to know what we would do in that "worst case scenario" because there's no reason anyone would end up in that worst case scenario.
If you are two years from retiring, then I would asap start reading about SORR and establish the strategy that best serves your needs and risks.
The whole point is that your plan should work no matter what the market does. That's actually a really, really important part of planning.
For some it's a bond tent, for some it's a variable withdrawal rate that drops in down years, for some it's having a large cash buffer, for some it's having a super low withdrawal rate, for others it's living off of dividends only, and for some, it's all of the above.
Very few people here relocate to somewhere cheaper when they retire. It's an option, but not a realistic one for a lot of people because by the time most of us retire, we have established networks, family, ties we just don't want to sever.
So don't assume that because you can't relocate that the plan isn't designed to work for you.
Your plan will work if it's well thought out and accounts for your particular needs and risks. Save 25X expenses is not a retirement plan, that's a very, very, extremely rough goal based on a number you made up for yourself.
Now you have to look at those "worst case" market fluctuations and figure out what they could mean for you personally. If they could really damage your retirement plans if they happened early on (SORR), then you need to employ a SORR mitigating strategy.
If those fluctuations wouldn't hurt you, as in my examples previously, like if you have a substantial pension or you've saved over 50X your expenses, then a bond tent or large cash buffer might be totally useless for you.
I understand the urge to anticipate the worst case scenario, but what you are asking is akin to "what if you get gored to death while running with the bulls?" and we're all saying "well, we wouldn't run with the bulls, so we don't factor goring into our risk factors".