Early Retirement

Chicago Tribune - Boomer fears rise as market falls

They don't know each other, but Kay Flanery and Mary Ann Bell have something in common. They both saw their savings plunge during the stock market meltdown. Now they will have to work longer before retiring.

Flanery of St. Louis, a 54-year-old accountant and single mother, has seen her 401(k) savings account sink by about 30 percent, or as much as $75,000. Bell, 61, a high school teacher in Arlington, Va., said she lost roughly 20 percent of her savings.

Flanery had looked forward to reducing her workload and traveling before retiring in five years or so. "Now I will have to wait until the market recovers," she said. Bell said she likely will delay retirement for at least a year, as will many of her teaching colleagues.

They are like many older people who have watched in horror as the carnage on Wall Street has shrunk their nest eggs. Even before the crisis, one in five older Americans had been putting off retirement. Now that figure is undoubtedly higher.