by Rodney Crutchfield

Created on: March 20, 2009

I am a teacher, and I have not only done my required amount of time as a teacher, but have also reached the age that many of my colleagues have retired. As a matter of fact, I am one of the oldest faculty members at the high school in which I teach. This being the case, and growing weary of the students constantly kidding me about being older than dirt, I had seriously considered retiring this year.

Retirement was something that I had not only looked forward to for years, but had also planned for. After all, getting older ought to have some benefit other than a senior priced drink at the local McDonalds. I of course had my teacher's retirement, savings, and an IRA. My wife also looked to be pretty well set, with a 401k that had a considerable amount in it, some stocks, and a small pension fund. She works for a stock brokerage which is owned by one of the major financial institutions that you read about in the paper everyday in somewhat less than favorable terms. As a result, a goodly portion of her 401k and stock accounts were in stock of that bank.

When the bank's stock started falling, my wife was like a deer caught in headlights. She was frozen, petrified, and did not know what to do. She did nothing. The stock fell and fell some more. Finally, it reached such a low point that selling would have been foolish, so now with about half of what was previously in her retirement account, she waits for the stock market to turn around and head back up, hopefully taking the bank stock with it. It is about the only path to take, as we had relied on this account to finish paying off some bills and then providing us with a little income.

I on the other hand still have my teacher retirement intact. However, this is really not going to bring me the income I want for my wife and me to live on. It and social security, along with proceeds of our other investments would provide for a sedentary lifestyle, doing almost nothing for entertainment, and constantly worrying about money. Not exactly the golden age all of us dream of. Therefore, I will not be retiring this year, and wonder whether I ever will.

There is a kicker to this story. A couple of weeks ago, my school system announced that next year, all employees will receive an across the board 2% reduction in pay. Things were getting pretty bad I thought. This, however, was only the tip of the iceberg. This past week, the state legislature brought up the idea of furloughing all stat teachers for six days next year. Combined,

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