Anderson,

Yesterday the conversation with Suze was very good. I liked so much. You should take it more often in these times of crisis, where people are really lost, with so much uncertainty and possibilities.

A pity that my questions weren't to air, I had so many questions! But it's to the next time.

Anderson and Suze,
You're done a really good job. Keep up the good work!

Thanks

I’ve done a little simple math in order to get some grasp of the position I, and millions of others, are in with respect to our retirement situation. I’m 61 years old, and have contributed to various retirement funds for the past 40 years or so. I worked in the private sector – engineering – and have no corporate pension or “golden parachute”.

So, without taking into account inflation, deflation, currency exchange rates, variations in return on investment, and other variables – this is my admittedly simplistic ‘order of magnitude’ conclusion.

I have 40 years worth of retirement income accumulated. The value of this ‘nest egg’ has declined by about 40% in the past year due to (clever, creative and perhaps criminal) trading on Wall Street and the abject failure of the banking industry. If my arithmetic exercises are fundamentally correct, 40% of 40 years is 16 years. I can now expect to work, assuming that I could find and retain a job at a payscale near the ‘industry standard’, for an additional 16 years in order to bring my ‘nest egg’ back to somewhere near its 2007 value. I would, of course, then be retiring when I’m 77 years old – assuming I live that long.

Fully realizing this to be a very simplistic, but fundamentally sound, I believe, exercise – will someone let me know if this is, in fact, the future that millions of us are likely to face?

Hey Anderson
I watched your conversation with Suse.she is a really good help for some people,in this time of big crises.But i like your way feeling the pain people have,not knowing how to pay their bills.Mayby hard crises learn people stand together.I belive in better times,but it will take a long time,the question will be who survive.

Thank you, Suze, for all of your practical advice. I was disheartened by the e-mails Anderson read last night. This financial crisis has left more and more people on the verge of poverty and despair (if they're not already there). It goes to show we're all vulnerable...we could be doing everything right and still find ourselves in a precarious situation. This nightmare can't end soon enough.

Lilibeth
Edmonds, Washington