They were forced out of the work world before they were ready

...could always happen!!

This is essentially what happened to me. I was laid off in 1998. I thought at the time it was no big deal. I thought I'd try teaching, but found out it was a lot more difficult than I'd imagined. Then I thought I would start over at the University but found that's a lot harder than I thought too. No one wants to hire a fat old man when they can hire a person fresh out of college. So, I have pretty much given up. Thank God I started saving and investing as soon as I started working. I had a little bit put away in a 403B, and was going to be taking decent distributions. But, like everyone else, my portfolio got decimated in the market meltdown. If I hadn't moved my money to Merrill Lynch and my financial consultant hadn't warned me to diversify I would have lost a LOT more! He's actually been pretty good. I know it's costing me money, but for now I'm happy to stay put. I'm doing ok. Up over $20,000 this year. - Art