How can you build retirement savings that will last you all of your life?
According to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, it's all about thinking past short-term gains.
Back in March, markets were roiled after U.S. strikes on Iran sent oil prices skyrocketing. At the same time, inflation was rising, so too was the uncertainty about the AI boom. But Fink had a message to Americans: invest, and do it for the long-term.
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His message draws on personal experience — looking back at his parents' financial habits — and argues patience is your best tool when it comes to market performance.
'An enthusiastic investor'
In this year's annual chairman's letter to investors, Fink branded himself a "long-term optimist" when it comes to capital markets.
He used the example of his own family to drive home his point. He writes that his parents didn't come from wealthy families, but they were consistent when it came to investing.
"My father was born in 1925. My mother in 1930. They didn't come from a lot of money. My dad owned a shoe store. My mom taught English. But they saved what they could and invested it."
It's not the first time that Fink has invoked his parents' story in his annual letter.
In 2024, he revealed that when his mother passed away in 2012, and his father began to decline soon after, he and his brother had to manage their parents' estate.
When they looked at the books, they found a much more substantial nest egg than they were expecting. "Both my mom and dad worked great jobs for 50 years, but they were never in the top tax bracket," Fink wrote.
He doesn't know exactly how much they made together. But in today's dollars, he estimates it was probably not more than $150,000.
"So, my brother and I were surprised when we saw the size of our parents' retirement savings. It was an order of magnitude bigger than you'd expect for a couple making their income. And when we finished going over their estate, we learned why: My parents' investments."
Fink notes that his father "had always been an enthusiastic investor." And it was his father that got him into the world of finance to begin with: "He encouraged me to buy my first stock (the DuPont chemical company) as a teenager."
Fink said that investing for retirement is all about a long-term mindset — and shared his father's own logic behind the strategy: "My dad invested because he knew that whatever money he put in the bond or stock markets would likely grow faster than in the bank. And he was right."
Read More: Vanguard reveals what's coming for U.S. stocks — and it's raising alarm bells for older investors
The long game
Fink's beliefs, and his father's investing success, rely on the historical average returns of the S&P 500.
"If my parents had $1,000 to invest in 1960, and they put that money in the S&P 500, then by the time they'd reached retirement age in 1990, the $1,000 would be worth nearly $20,000. That's more than double what they would have earned if they'd just put the money in a bank account," Fink wrote.
Since the S&P 500's launch in 1957, the average annual return has been about 10%, according to Fidelity . In the 40 years ending December 2025, that average is 11.5%. Of late it's been delivering even greater returns — the five-year average return from January 2021 to December 2025 was 14.4%.
In Fink's 2026 letter, he highlights that "over time, staying invested has mattered far more than getting the timing right."
"Over the past two decades, every dollar invested in the S&P 500 grew more than eightfold. Miss just the ten best days, and you would have earned less than half. And some of the
market's strongest days came amid the most unsettling headlines."
With no shortage of concerning headlines about geopolitical tensions and the perceived AI bubble, it may be hard to focus on the long-term performance of your investments.
For those nearing retirement, however, your thinking does indeed have to shift to rebalancing your portfolio to lessen risk as you near your golden years. That way, if your last day on the job coincides with a big market dip, you won't be overexposed.
And it's worth noting that there's a reason that the SEC requires financial professionals to include the disclaimer "Past performance is not indicative of future results," — it's even in Fink's letter.
Nothing is certain in life, but when it comes to investing, it seems pretty clear that being a "long-term optimist" might help protect you from making rash financial decisions.
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This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Larry Fink says his parents didn't come from money and had regular jobs — so their retirement nest egg stunned him
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
