Since retirement can happen unexpectedly, you should have a backup plan
We like to think that we can carefully plan out when we'll retire and how we'll spend those carefree days. But too often, carefully planned retirements are derailed when people find themselves pushed out of the workforce. Steve Wolf and Mary Murley, a married couple with 11-year-old twin sons, are watching their retirement dreams recede farther into the future. Roughly 40 percent of their life savings has evaporated in the stock market in the past year. To make matters worse, Wolf, 55, was laid off from his engineering job in February, and now the family's sole source of income is Murley's part-time job as a classroom aide. Wolf isn't limiting his job search to their hometown, Grand Rapids, Mich., so the couple put their house up for sale—priced below what they paid for it seven years ago. But so far, there have been no bids on the house or job offers for Wolf. "I was hoping that we would be able to sell our house and make up the loss by purchasing someone else's foreclosure," says Murley, 53. "But if we sell the house tomorrow, we'll probably end up living with my mother in Ohio." Here's how to cope with an unplanned retirement.
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