What was that again about the privatization of Social Security?
Some people were done in by the twin collapses of the housing and stock markets.
Patti and Bob Webster had accumulated a six-figure balance in their 401(k) accounts and were building a dream house in North Carolina in 2007. They planned to retire there in about a year. Then their builder went out of business and the stock collapse knocked 40% off their savings. They temporarily suspended 401(k) contributions.
“We thought we had the perfect plan,” says Patti Webster. “When the bottom fell out of the market, it kind of fell out of our perfect plan as well.”
Today in their mid-60s, they have completed the house but have worked two years longer than planned and expect to work two years more.
“We are having to spend another two years in just trying to catch up with what the market did to us,” Ms. Webster says.
And they are the lucky ones. They still have jobs to spend two more years in. And another two years after that. And so on. And so on.
Work till ya drop!
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