We have lost about 1/3 but have many years to recover (and worry about).

I've lost over 40%, and this is why I'm working again. I'm 65, so whether or not I'll recover this lost value depends on how long it takes to come back. It's a big concern.

We lost 10% in the retirement accounts.

We made money with the individual stocks DH dabbles in.
We also made money with laddered CDs.

Overall, we consider it a wash.

We are 53 and 55.

BTW - it is not a loss unless you sell!

Suze Orman says the economy will fully rebound, but not until 2015.

We've lost enough to put all 8 grands through college. That's truly a sickening way to look at it.

Only about a thousand, because I don't believe in putting money into savings I don't control. Only reason I have a SEP account at all was that one year, I had a unique situation where I could put $4000 into a SEP or pay the same amount in taxes. I chose to gamble with that money, because it didn't matter anyway. The sep was up to over $6000 about a year ago, and is now down to $3000. And really, considering that it was opened with money I woudln't have had otherwise, I guess I'm still 3 thou ahead.

How, though, is anyone going to recover IF:

IRA's, etc are nationalized?

Or IF:

Congress passes a law stating that one has to deplete their independent retirement savings BEFORE collecting SS?

Both those options have been seriously discussed by our govenment. The social security thing has come up several times in Congress over the past 10 years. Sooner or later, it's almost surely going to be passed. The nationalization thing is being discussed as a way to 'protect' us--however, have you ever known the govenment to have money at their disposal that they didn't spend many times over? I don't want them managing MY retirement! Anything where you don't control your funds 100% isn't a safe investment in my opinion

Also--what guarantee does anyone have that the tax rate won't go sky high when it comes time for us boomers to start collecting on our IRA's?

I strongly believe that the govenment is NOT going to ignore those tempting piles of money, and unfortunately, I'd be very suprised if most of us get anything close to the amounts we've put into those accounts.

Nothing...I've gained.
Got out of the stock market a while ago..figured it was overpriced.

No 401Ks...every time I left I job, I rolled my 401K over into my own IRA.
I manage my own money.

And...how many of you realize that people MUST start taking IRA/401K distributions after age 70? You must start paying taxes on distributions on that tax-deferred money when you hit age 70.

I was down about 27%, at the low in the fall ... and was rather surprised at the lack of anxiety that the drop developed in my psyche ... partly because, during 50 years of investing, I've seen some similar events before, if not as widespread or serious.

Stocks go up, they go down, they go sideways ... but, in the long run, their average growth rate beats that of bonds by a country mile.

I say that I don't like earning interest - for the total return is made now ... and, in Canada, taxed at top rate. When I own Canadian stocks that pay dividends, the rate tends to rise over time as the stock prices rise. Also, they used to be taxed at a somewhat lower rate ... and that rate was reduced quite a bit more, a couple of years ago.

As I tend to hold stocks for a long time, I don`t have to deal with tax liability on their increase in value (if present) till I sell them (or die) ... which gives me much of the advantage of a tax-deferred retirement account... and, when I sell, I get half of the capital gain tax-free, but am taxable on every dollar withdrawn from a tax-deferred retirement account.

At 80, I was about 80% in equities prior to the major drop, about a quarter of that in equity-based mutual funds (which shed value at about the same rate or more as the stocks that I owned individually) ... but haven't bought any of them in about 20 years.

A substantial portion of what I consider my non-equity-based asset is in a mortgage-based mutual fund ... which has held its per-unit price as steady as a rock for a number of years.

Living quite frugally (as many of you know who frequent "Money Saving Tips", "Household Finance" or "Retirement" fori know), I am able to save some of my pensions.

As long as my pension carriers remain solvent ... all that I have to do to continue to qualify to receive them ... is stay topside the grass - that is, almost guaranteed income.

Paycheques aren`t nearly as secure.

You manage your own money?

Did you own BearStearns stock? Lehman Brothers?

They were supposed to be well-managed companies.

And I hear quite a few people saying that they've made little using mutual funds - which is my personal understanding of most of them.

If you deposit it in the banks - they make more on it than you do.

Good wishes for increasing skill in managing your income and assets.

ole joyful

Monica, Pa-- it is 70 1/2, and this year the
IRS has lifted that requirement. Luckily - if there
are any retirees who are living off their IRA's.

Did you own BearStearns stock? Lehman Brothers?

Nope.

Bank accounts are for cash reserve, not investments.

The value of my IRA went form $110,000 to $85,000. That's 25 grand down isn't it? Luckily, it's a loss on paper. I still own my house and have enough money (just enough) to cover food and other daily expenses.

I wasn't worried until this past week. I'm 67 and have lost about 36% of my IRA and other cash savings. I used to feel financially comfortable, but no longer. I can get by but definitely won't be able to do the traveling I had hoped to do. At least my kids are self supporting and doing well.

My only really big loser is on a BIG block of Bank of America stock, down to $3.79 a share. But since it was part of an inheritance, it was like found money anyway so I'm not agonizing over it. I'll hold onto it and see what kind of recovery there might be down the line.

As for the rest - on a good tip, I went conservative before the late 90's crash and have preserved my holdings virtually intact. I'm retired, in my early 60's and feel secure living off a pension, interest and dividends. My house is paid for, I carry zero debt. I have yet to decide what to do about taking SS and will probably hold off on the 403(b) until age 70 1/2.

I would like to see some movement in the economy soon with all this cash infusion, though. Even a slow advance to recovery is better than no advance. If those of us with assets are taking hits - either big or small - imagine what's happening to those without any kind of cushion. I still say the crux is stemming the job losses - until that sorts itself out, there's not much to be confident about and it doesn't seem likely money will start circulating.

I figure I lost $30,000. last year. Luckily, I still get my pention and SS. I took my SS as soon as I could. You never know how long you'll live. I've lost a lot of friends who never got to collect theirs. I've cut back on some things. But, I know there's a lot more I could do without, and cut more if I have to.
Leslie

I lost about 45%. I'm 54 and have saved all of my life. I had a nice little nest egg. I won't be able to recoup the losses. The market would have to go up 90%! Prior to the downturn the beauty of compounding was at work.
The way I look at it is that I can't change anything so I just have to accept it. It's just money and I still have my health.
Donna

Lost a whole lot and hubby was just ready to retire. Now he'll have to work for who-knows how many years.

made only 3% this yr after costs, which is the worst since i started at 19 in 1986 w/ a 401K. several yrs later during the S & L bailout i rolled into IRA's and my father & i manage that $$. actually he manages it (he's a CPA and CFP) but i double check every single move lol it's my hard earned $$ afterall. we, of course, did very well 10-15 yrs ago and since then averaging near 10% until this yr. all of it moved to gold this summer and while that did well, w/ everyone trying to get in gold there is a shortage now, i had to offset a bit off loss from early in the yr and the costs of shifting that $$.

i have 20-30 yrs till i need to start living off the interest my $$ will make, plenty of time to make my goals. i intend to live solely off interest, not touching principle or my house value and hopefully not inheritance and amass something to help animals & pets when my DH & i are gone. ~ liz

Liz,
I'm so happy to hear you want to leave your money to an animal group. I have the same plans for my money.
Donna

$18,960 down in January 2009. Hadn't checked it since the middle of last year. Whoa! All my funds have little red arrows pointing down.

I still have over 20 years til retirement so I'm not panicking yet.

I think Brian said we lost about 25,000 but after talking to my dad who lost a whole heck of alot I am not gripping......Stacy

My retirement stock fund went down 37 percent.

However, less than one-half of one percent of my retirement savings was in a stock fund, so the real loss is very small.

My IRA is down about 25%, the 403b down about 35%. And I'm only making about 2.5% on my savings...from the proceeds of the sale of some property last year (thank God it sold when it did). I have lowered the amount I'm putting into the 403b now and I'm saving more cash now.

I am going to retire July 1st of this year and I will continue to save in the 403b (although I'm changing what I will invest in). I work in academic field and in California no less, so that means we will have NO raises for the next few years (we didn't get one last year) and my retirement benefit won't change much so I'm going to go ahead and start another phase of life. I have already been asked by vendors we use if I would consider part time work with them and I might think about that after I have about 3 months of retirement freedom.

I realize that there will be hard times in the future. But I don't need alot of money to live on and I have thought long and hard about having quality years (health wise) versus staying and working the 40+ hr. week grind. And I'm opting for maybe some part-time work (if I feel like it) and more time to spend tapping into the things I've always wanted to do. We don't know from day to day what lies ahead, so I just hope I have some peaceful happy days ahead.

And like someone said, "It's not a loss unless you cash out". And I won't need to use any money from the IRA or 403b for several years, God willing.

Susan

I've lost a bunch in my IRA. (I've been retired for 10 yrs, so that hurts.) One small aid did happen: For 2009, the government temporarily suspended the minimum withdrawal requirement. That means I can take as little as I want, even zero. I did reduce the withdrawal to 2/3 of what it would have been. I may even reduce it further yet this year.

In the past, I have bellyached saying that if our IRA was truly a retirement fund, let us manage the withdrawal rate. Heavens to Betsy, it happened this year! I hope that this gets extended into the next few years, but that's not lilely - Uncle Sam wants to get his money (No wait, Its my money that I pay to operate the government.)

Some financial advisors in this area were telling us a few years ago how to get money out of our tax-deferred retirement account, which are added to our income and taxed at high rate, at no tax cost.

If I am required to take $5,000.00 from my retirement account this year, if I borrow $100,000.00 at 5% and invest it, the interest of $5,000. is deductible, which offsets the $5,000. taken out of my retirement account, which leaves me with no tax to pay on that withdrawal.

In the volatile markets these days, there`s no way that I want to invest a large amount of money into equities at one time - I want to invest small amounts on a regular basis over a period of months and years.

I would need to be in a position where I not only didn`t require the payout from the retirement account for current expenses, but didn`t foresee that I might do so for a substantial period.

In order for me to borrow $10,000.00, the lender (bank) wants quality assets in the ratio of 2:1, e.g. stocks worth $20,000.00 as collateral to support the loan. For myself, I don`t want to borrow more than $10,000.00 if I have $30,000.00 (or even more) in collateral: too great a possibility of having a substantial drop in the markets. If I have certificates issued for the new purchases, that would add to just short of $30,000.00 of collateral.

If the market drops by just short of one-third, that leaves me with $20,000.00 of collateral, which is the bare minimum that the bank requires. If there`s a further drop, they want either more assets to add to the collateral ... or cash to pay down some of the loan to under one-half of the amount of the collateral (and they`ll likely want a larger amount, to allow some extra cushion, to avoid the need to come running back with further demand if there is even a slight further drop). And - they want that extra equity today ... tomorrow at the latest! I haven`t had such margin calls, and don`t want any, either ... and even more do I not want my clients to have to deal with one!

I`m only willing to stretch things that tight if I have more certificates at home, in case of need. But many retirees, the people making such withdrawals, have such assets available.

I`ve been carrying a fully secured line of credit for some years (much of the time unused) and I might be able to draw on it to pay down some of the equity loan, in case of need.

I do not want to be in a situation where I need to sell assets in the case of a market downturn ... for I am very conscious of the fact that I still owe the bank the full amount that I borrowed, even if some of the stuff that I bought with the loan has lost a substantial part of its value.

In many cases ... that`s the time to buy more - when stocks are selling at a discount!

Many good stocks are on sale these days ... step right up, folks ... big sale!! 40% off!!

(Of course, they may be on fire sale later ... don`t be surprised if the market goes down farther before it resumes a sustained upward trend).

Good wishes for increasing skill in managing your income and assets.

ole joyful