My parents are watching their retirement get sucked away...

[southernleftylady]

they are so worried.. ugh what a horrible day :(

[tosh]

1. I'm watching my mom's.

:cry:

[spanone]

15. i'm watching MINE

[tosh]

18. As am I, but time is on my side.

I'm still pro'ly 15 years from retirement.

[LarryMarcarian]

2. AIG

Told my mom to transfer the annuity out of AIG == NOW!

[tosh]

6. Whew! My mom had a small part of hers in AIG. I pulled it out

last Friday.

[ladjf]

3. Average people are losing $10,000+ per day from their investment

funds. If they are young enough, it will probably grow back. Otherwise, they are in for a bleak retirement. That's where the Government is going to have to step in. We can't just allow our senior citizens to die of poverty. We aren't a third world Country.

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. My father retires in exactly 30 days from American Axle here in Detroit.

He is screwed.

[spinbaby]

5. My mother's near hysterical

She's invested very conservatively but her accounts were with AG Edwards and then they got sucked up by Wachovia and then they got sucked up by someone else, I forget. She hasn't actually lost any money at this point, but the anxiety is killing her.

[tosh]

7. I shelter my mom from financial realities.

I just tell her "You have enough". She is mid-stage Alz & doesn't need to know.

[midnight]

9. You have enough. I like that phrase.

[frogcycle]

8. my retirement went byebye in the dot-com crash

now the rest is pretty much toast

I'll be working til I'm 75

With any luck we'll both get hit by a train at the same time, just as I get too feeble to work.

[elocs]

10. For those who are able to change their investments,

why is anyone simply sitting back and watching their savings disappear? I am 10 years from retirement and I have moved all of my money into Treasury bonds in both my 401k and my Roth IRA. The last time I did that was August 2001 and that turned out to be a good decision.

I have some friends, a married couple, who were at retirement age in 2001 and lost half of everything they had invested and would never get it back. Why? Because they trusted some guy from Prudential to make all of their investment financial decision and he stupidly had them mostly in the stock market. Of course, he made money regardless whether they did or lost a lot. As much as within their power, people need to take responsibility for their own finances and investments.

[Davis_X_Machina]

12. About 18 months ago, I went 2/3 treasuries...

1/3 equities -- half of that US small cap, half in a EUR index. Also ten years from retirement.

Made a bundle on the run-up in the Euro, but it's all gone now.

[elocs]

14. My point is that too many Americans allow themselves to be helpless victims.

Even if they have the means to bail out their boat, they sit by and watch it take on water as it sinks lower and lower.

[trof]

11. I'm down about 30% for the year.

I'm retired and the bulk is in MM fund.

[JimWis]

13. I am semi retired - and I have lost 30%. I have one smaller fund

that was at 12,000 in January and is at 8,800 at noon today. I don't even want to know what my Roth is sitting at. All I can hope is that the market settles and then moves back up, for my sake and all the folks you posted about here.

[young_at_heart]

16. Retired school teacher here----had to turn off the TV

I guess I could try substituting but it would be hard to do. Where is the leadership we need so badly?

[flamin lib]

17. Five years away from retiremnet. Lost 30% of the 401K when

Bush was elected. Just about got it back and now this happens.

Wife, smart woman she is, moved everything still liquid into bonds two weeks ago to try to protect the principal. Most of the money is in a diversified insurance fund and is locked up for six years by contract. The fund guarantees 6% annual regardless of the actual return. If the fund still exists after all this shakes down we'll be okay, otherwise we are truly fucked.

Current indications are that the fund will survive--it's that diversified--but who the hell knows.