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Of course you need to save for your later years. Additionally, after you retire, you need to assess how you can keep your retirement income adequate enough for your needs. This doesn't necessarily mean investing in the old stock market boom way, because the big bust of 2008 should be a lesson for all future investments.

You must realize that all the so-called experts were totally wrong about investing when the stock market crashed in 2008. It was almost the same scenario of when it happened in 1929. Investment companies, mortgage holders and banks went broke, and millions of individual people lost life savings simply because they thought the stock market boom would never end.

In good times, investing in stocks, real estate and other speculative areas can be very attractive. Even Bernie Madoff, now deservedly serving a couple of lifetimes in jail, could have continued his scam for years if the market had kept growing at the rate of eight to ten percent a year.

Like many of the hot-shot money guys, he kept promising high-percentage gains for years, because he could always pay out the old clients with the money of new investors. He wasn't discovered to be the Ponzi crook he was until the stock market collapsed, and many of the puffed-up investments lost 80 to 90 percent of their values. He wasn't just crooked; he was also stupid.

If you invest after retirement, do it in financial areas where there's absolutely no risk. Despite the temptation to do the Las Vegas on Wall Street betting again, stay away from the stock market. You may look into some mutual funds, and check how they survived the 2008 crash and their track record since. Of course, if you're still contributing to a fixed-interest IRA, continue to put in the annually-allowed maximum.

If your company offers you company stock in lieu of retirement income or some other substitute, take it if that's your only option. But don't expect it to suddenly rise and make you rich. My company offered company stock to retirees in lieu of a pension increase several years ago. It was worth $5,000 then. In the boom of 1995 to about 2001, it increased in value to $15,000. By the end of 2008, it was worth $3,000.

You don't have to make big investments in your retirement years, because the market may continue to be volatile for the next decade. Put it in non-speculative bonds, interest-bearing savings accounts and other safe havens. And if you do get the itch to make a quick buck, go to Las Vegas. You don't have much of a chance there, either, but at least its more fun losing your money than in the stock market.

Learn more about this author, Ted Sherman.
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