BETRAYED BY THEIR 401(K)s?BETRAYED BY THEIR 401(K)s?Readers were eager to comment on "The Unretired" (In Depth, Dec. 15), about senior citizens forced to go back to work because of the housing and market meltdowns. Many who weighed in argued that such people should have been more conservative about their investments as retirement loomed. Others blamed the lack of financial literacy Financial literacy is the ability of individuals to make appropriate decisions in managing their personal finances. Raising levels of financial literacy is now a focus of government programmes in countries including[1] Australia, Japan, the United States and the UK. that drove so many people to financial planners Financial Planner A qualified investment professional who assists individuals and corporations meet their long-term financial objectives by analyzing the client's status and setting a program to achieve these goals. , who continued to preach aggressive investing. --Heather Green Over 65, retired, and their money was still in stocks? No sympathy here. Anyone who did even basic research would have known to move to bonds as they entered retirement. Screen name: Derrick derrick: see crane. Derrick famous hangman; eponym of modern hoisting apparatus. [Br. Hist.: Espy, 170] See : Execution Average middle-class Americans who worked and saved for decades do not necessarily know a ton about finance. Hence, they go to a financial planner. [Many] planners gave bad advice: "Stocks are safe." "The market is cyclical." "Don't worry." "Put the majority in stocks." Screen name: Kely Does everyone have to have an MBA MBA abbr. Master of Business Administration Noun 1. MBA - a master's degree in business Master in Business, Master in Business Administration or a degree in economics or finance just to live life? Oh, wait--it was the people with MBAs and degrees in economics and finance who got us into this mess to begin with. Screen name: PJL (Printer Job Language) A printer command language from HP that adds control for individual print jobs and also includes the ability to set printer default settings. See PCL. The article demonstrates the fatal flaw in our retirement systems. Self-directed plans such as 401(k)s do not provide a guaranteed income, and the person doing the self-directing is an amateur. A better solution would be to allow workers to fund Social Security to a higher level so the program could provide a livable liv·a·ble also live·a·ble adj. 1. Suitable to live in; habitable: a livable dwelling. 2. Possible to bear; endurable: livable trials and tribulations. income during retirement. Screen name: Billd 
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