How to Invest When You're Retired

You have saved and invested throughout your career so that you can have a comfortable retirement. Once you retire, the way you interact with your portfolio and what you need from it change.

As a retiree, you'll be taking money out instead of contributing money to your investments. That makes it incredibly important for you to actuallyhavethe money available when you need it. Market fluctuations become harder to stomach if you must sell investments to cover your costs of living.

Also, instead of relying on raises from work to fight inflation, your portfolio must play that role. And if you're looking forward to a long retirement, your investments must still provide long-term growth.

Those priorities are different from those you had when you were working, and your money must behave differently when it is feeding you than when you were feeding it.

In the slideshow below, you will learn about an investing strategy called a "laddered portfolio" that uses the strengths of stocks, bonds, and cash to help balance the risks and needs you face as a retiree.

The article How to Invest When You're Retired originally appeared on Fool.com.

Chuck Saletta has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.