I actually was surprised to get letters from 2 former employers when I turned 55. I had vested with both (7 yrs with each of them) and had modest 401k accts, so I thought that was all there was. We were recovering from a personal bankruptcy so I had never been able to save much in personal contributions. However, both employers purchase annuities for employees that are vested. Now, annuities by definition mean that you are dependent on the life insurance company holding that annuity to stay in business! My FIL, for example, worked for Mead Paper Corp. for decades, and lost his entire pension when Mead was purchased and the insurance company subsequently went bankrupt. So I'm not counting absolutely on them, but it's a nice little "boost" if it comes to me. My husband is a state employee and his pension is pretty safe. The agency agreed, at the last union contract, to start funding the pension obligations at a rate double what they were doing before. This will put them as one of the few public agencies to be on a sound basis, actuarially speaking, for their retired workers. His 401k is with PERS, the largest pension fund in the US. An extremely well managed, influential, and progressive pension fund, it is also one of the very few government funds at any level to completely forbid any financial contributions of any sort being accepted by the treasury managers. If you want to know why that's important, you can see the current issue of Forbes magazine for a very enlightening article on how North Carolina's pension manager pays high fund fees, receives substantial contributions from fund companies, yet produces extremely poor investment results for the state employees.

I agree this is a red flag. I'm recently divorced and my exH was abusive & controlling when it came to money (among other things). It was a slow progression, so by the time it got bad and I had to ask friends & family about marital money & what other couples did, I was already being taken advantage of. It had gone far enough that our money dysfunction seemed "normal" to me, and getting back on-track was not possible. If you would go seek advice from an attorney (in my state-IL), 50% of his marital money is yours, and vice versa. At minimum, you should have knowledge of it. Best-case scenario, you should have access to it. I'm of the opinion that if he says it's not your business...he is hiding something from you. To what level of terror or embarrassment???...who knows...and that's relative to each person. What I'm ashamed of may not be a big deal to the next person. You need to see the taxes. You need to see the bank accounts & statements. In a marriage, his windfalls and losses are yours too. Don't turn a blind eye in HOPES it's all okay. Verify for yourself it's okay.

The guys running the investment advisory that I referred to last March, as having super growth rates over a numbr of years but less well in recent years, with a 15% loss in '07 ... ... had a really bad year in '08 - down 36 or 38%!! Check their system principles and results at "www.contratheheard.com". But a lot of the rest of us had some rather heavy losses, as well. Although the markets look pretty bad now, I think that this may be a good time to start buying some stocks. And I want well-researched ones ... so I'm subscribing to their advisory service ... I don't think that they've lost their touch! It seems to me that they're on sale now ... and doesn't 40% off sound like a good sale price? Of course ... they may go down more, so be on "fire sale" later ... so I'm not too enthused about committing too much at present ... ... but it isn't much fun to arrive at the station to see the back of the train moving down the track/plane climbing into the sky. So, after a few months, buy some more ... and a few months later, buy some more. They've been telling us for years not to try to time the market! Invest more or less equal dollar amounts on a regular basis, over a substantial period when the market is down. But only money that you can leave alone for a good five years. If it stays down longer than you'd expected ... you have that many more dollars at work when they do not only start, which they usually do several times, then drop again ... to grow again on a sustained basis. By the way - during the investment phase, you want to invest equal number of dollar amounts on a regular basis. But when you enter the withdrawal phase, it seems to me best to develop a good nest egg of guaranteed-dollar investments, then withdraw equal number of units of investment on a similar periodic basis. That way, you aren't forced to sell an unusually large number of stocks in order to achieve the dollar amount that you need to cover your rather immediate needs. I feel that I can safely avoid the need for that substantial cushion on hand to cover immediate needs during a prolonged downturn without being forced to cash out an unusually large number of stock/equity-based mutual funds in order to cover immediate needs, for I regularly live on less that my monthly pension income. Going in - invest equal numbers of dollars on a regular basis. Going out - cash in an equal number of shares on a regular basis and, since the number of dollars per cash-out will vary, have some cushion on hand to offset the low current income. Learning how money works (and the tax implications of various strategies) ... an interesting hobby ... that pays well!! "pays" and "well" - a couple of "four-letter" words with which I can enjoy being associated! But life is much more than money - I enjoy being associated with a number of other situations in life, as well. ole joyful

Tulsa Rose that is so cute. I am determined to try to keep my sense of humor. If that's gone I am going to be much more of a detriment to myself and my husband. Now for the next chapter of the never ending horror story Days of our lives after the flood. . Remember that the night of the flood storm we were also hit by lightning which knocked down the entire tops of 2 of my big oak trees. We had our garden guy come cut those big limbs up and hauled away. Apparently unknown to anyone one of the biggest branches actually plunged into the ground and penetrated the ground several inches. Don't you know with our luck it penetrated the ground directly into one of our septic systems lines! Since no one has been using the bathrooms in the house it was not noticeable. However yesterday my husband did have to use the back bathroom that is still functioning. Shortly after that he had to go around the back of the house to the electric panel and he sees water shooting out of the ground. We have a pump in the septic tank that pumps out the liquid when it gets to a certain level to trip the pump. Normally this pushes the liquid out to the lateral lines. (tmi I know the solids sink and are taken care of by the bacteria in the tank). That's how it's supposed to work. But now there's a big hole in the pipe leading from the tank to the lateral lines. They are coming today to dig up the back yard and replace pipes. Lord only knows what this is going to cost. I swear before this is over with we will be living under a bridge in the rv if we can keep it and the truck. You think you have planned for your retirement then a disaster like this hits you and you realize you are seriously at risk. How could anyone anticipate these kinds of things. I think of people who have lost everything in a fire, or their home exploded due to a gas leak. I don't know that everyone can recover from them. I am hoping and praying that we can but every time another big hit happens the bank account takes a hit too. So many people have set up go fund me accounts and I see why especially those with children. Donations have been made by the thousands but we never see a dime of it. At least those that set up the accounts are actually getting the help directly. There's a big concert happening to benefit the people affected by the flood, how much do you think I will get? ZERO. Anyone affected? Zero. I am not laughing about that that's seriously wrong. But the fact that in our entire big yard which is around an acre that dang tree limb hit a bullseye on the septic line that's pretty funny, I mean what are the odds. I know it could have been much worse it could have fallen on the bedroom and killed us, so thank you Lord for that. By the way it's raining and the weather man promised sunshine today! I am hopeful the sun shows up. Thanks you all for your continued support! Personally if I was following this ongoing saga of someone I would find it hard to believe. I truly wish I was just making it up lol!