‘Enough blame to go around,’ declare battered 401K holders

LYNN – “It’s gone” – that’s how Harold Frederick described his 401K account Tuesday after seeing years of retirement savings wiped out by the past week’s financial tsunami.Frederick planned to retire from his job as an automotive technician in May 2010 after 29 years on the job but with the stock market plummeting, he is delaying the start of his golden years for at least two years.He is not alone: The sub prime mortgage crisis combined with the fall of major financial companies has hit the proverbial little guy hard in the pocket, or in Colleen Joyce O’Leary’s case, the pocketbook.Her 401K plan nosedived over the past week even as Congress debated and voted on a gigantic Wall Street bailout plan. She doesn’t even want to know how much of the money she put away for retirement disappeared with the slumping stocks.”I’m afraid to look at it but I’m determined to ride it out.”That is a sound plan, said Jeff Miller, a financial planner with 18 years experience who has been fielding calls from clients experiencing pretty much the same pain Frederick and O’Leary have endured.”This is not the best time to panic – have some level of concern but, remember, things tend to go in cycles,” Miller said.Insurance salesman Chris Powers said the financial downturn is making it tough for him to close sales.’There is a saying that you fight for every sale. Right now I can’t even get people into the ring with me,” Powers said.He is scrimping and saving any way he can to get through lean financial times and takes some comfort in seeing gas prices go down.Despite the drought impacting their wallet and retirement accounts, Frederick and O’Leary are not spending much time blaming someone for their financial woes.”There’s enough blame to go around for everyone. It’s greed,” Frederick said, adding he is “split” over the merits of the bailout plan crafted by Congress.”If it can help me, good, I don’t know. Some people say we should let it all go down the drain,” he said.Powers takes a harder line: “This all should have been acted on before we got to a crisis stage. We trusted these people.”