Saving Jewelers Retirement Hopes

“It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.”, so began Charles Dickens’ classic novel, A Tale of Two Cities, a novel about the end of one era and the beginning of another.  Whether the recession that began almost 16 months ago is an end of America’s 20th Century era of prosperity still remains to be seen, but most certainly it’s a tale of two economies, at least as far as many baby boomers in the midst of retirement are concerned. 

As the progeny of the “greatest generation”, boomers were the recipients of the largest transfer of wealth in history as well as endowed with the world’s best economy; much of which disappeared on September 15, 2008.  That’s when the US financial system crashed and along with it the hopes and dreams of many older workers and self employed business men and women who had already retired or were planning to retire soon.  For the former, the other economy, the one that’s emerging now, will determine whether their current retirement will remain comfortable.  For the others, it will redefine retirement like no other event in modern history both in terms of timing and quality...