To: Mark Fowler who wrote (7361 ) 6/2/2001 5:17:43 PM From: craig crawford Read Replies (1) | Respond to Below is an example of what I was talking about with regards to baby boomers and their retirement over the next decade, and why it is going to be quite a task to get these new economy stocks back into the stratosphere.interactive.wsj.com The household sector is getting closer to retirement than ever before, so from that time frame the security of savings is different today than it was, say, 10 years ago. You can actually envision a point in your life, if you are the average American consumer, where you may actually have to use your savings to finance life in your golden years. At the same time, you are more exposed to equities as an asset class than ever before. And you find as the stereotypical American worker, that you are increasingly on a defined-contribution as opposed to defined-benefit pension plan. So you've rolled the dice here. You've made a huge bet on being able to set yourself up for the future and live really well during the last few years. And lo and behold, if this new and permanent source of savings does not turn out to be quite as secure as you thought, then you suddenly need to save more, and consume less, the need to sort of restore out of your paycheck. So we can't just presume that what the wealth effect giveth on the upside it taketh on the downside. The effect could be asymmetrical.
