In this article, we will take a look at Retirement Stock Portfolio: 12 Low Risk Investments.
Planning for retirement often pushes investors to favor stability over big swings. As people move closer to retirement, protecting income and managing risk tend to take priority.
That caution is well placed. CNBC recently reported that more than 8 in 10 retiree households — about 83% — face unexpected expenses in a typical year, based on research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. For those who do run into surprise costs, the average annual bill comes to around $6,000 over the course of retirement. Put another way, that’s roughly 10% of a household’s yearly income.
The problem is that many retirees don’t have that kind of cushion set aside. The research found that only about 58% of households have enough cash on hand to cover a year of unplanned expenses. Around 16% would need to dip into a 401(k) or other retirement accounts, while roughly 27% would still come up short even after using both their cash savings and retirement assets.
This is why advisors often stress the importance of building portfolios around lower-risk options. Richard Carter, vice president of fixed income products and services at Fidelity Investments, said diversification can help manage risk, even within investments that are generally seen as conservative. He noted that when looking at fixed income, investors should remember that “low risk” doesn’t mean “no risk,” as differences still exist in credit quality, price volatility, and when or how returns are paid.
Given this, we will take a look at some of the best options for a retirement stock portfolio.
Photo by Esther Tuttle on Unsplash
Our Methodology:
For this list, we screened for dividend companies with strong histories and sound financials. From that list, we identified stocks with dividend yields of at least 3%, as of January 25. Finally, we picked 12 stocks with a beta of less than 1.0 over the past years, using monthly price data. Beta lower than 1.0 shows that these stocks are less volatile than the overall market. The stocks were then ranked according to their beta.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
12. The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)
Beta (5Y Monthly): 0.94
Dividend Yield as of January 25: 3.06%
The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) is among the best stocks for a retirement stock portfolio.
On January 23, Wells Fargo analyst Michael Sison lowered The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)’s price target to $27 from $28 and kept an Equal Weight rating on the shares. The change followed a softer view on fourth-quarter volumes, with Brazil turning weaker and SSP production being curtailed. Pressure is still evident in the near term, though Wells Fargo believes the picture looks steadier heading into 2026 as phosphate supply tightens and demand in Brazil improves.
That caution showed up earlier in the month as well. Mosaic said in mid-January that fertilizer demand fell off sharply in the fourth quarter, squeezing sales and cash flow and pushing the stock down about 4%. Farmers simply used less fertilizer as budgets tightened, and an early winter cut the application season short. Phosphates were hit the hardest. Prices made them less appealing than potash, and shipments in North America dropped by roughly 20% from a year earlier, while potash demand held up comparatively better.
The slowdown showed up clearly in volumes. Mosaic said both phosphate and potash sales in Q4 missed earlier expectations. Brazil did little to offset the weakness. Tighter credit, tougher competition, and imports from China pressured demand and margins, leaving volumes below internal targets. For full-year 2025, Mosaic reported sales volumes of about 9 million tonnes, basically unchanged from the prior year and consistent with a soft overall market.
The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) is a major producer and marketer of crop nutrients, with operations focused primarily on phosphate and potash products.
11. Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI)
Beta (5Y Monthly): 0.81
Dividend Yield as of January 25: 3.06%
Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) is one of the top stocks for a retirement stock portfolio.
On January 22, Piper Sandler downgraded Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) to Neutral from Overweight. The firm also cut its price target to $38 from $51, following the company’s fourth-quarter earnings report. As previously reported, the firm said it generally steers investors away from companies facing loss cost reserve or loss trend issues. It added that it is “less optimistic” about Old Republic’s specialty underwriting business, pointing to ongoing challenges tied to commercial auto loss cost inflation.
Old Republic released its Q4 2025 results the same day, reporting consolidated pretax operating income of $236 million, down from $285 million a year earlier. The consolidated combined ratio also worsened, coming in at 96% compared with 92.7% previously. President, CEO, and Director Craig Smiddy said full-year pretax operating income totaled $1 billion, with a consolidated combined ratio of 94.7%. He also highlighted a 22% increase in book value per share, including dividends, crediting strong operating earnings, higher investment valuations, and disciplined capital management.
In the title segment, premium and fee revenue reached $789 million for the quarter, up 12% from the same period last year.
Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) is a specialty insurer with operations spanning property and casualty insurance as well as title insurance.
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