First, there is no guarantee that the stock market is going to get well in the near future. You’ve heard commentators and government officials taking about a bottoming out this Fall, followed by a gradual recovery. This is pure speculation and perhaps wishful thinking. There are reports emerging that FHA loan defaults are now exceeding subprime defaults – another wave of foreclosures is on the horizon. And no one is talking about the potential for massive personal bankruptcies from credit card defaults over the coming year. What do you think out-of-work people have been living on?!

Baby Boomers don’t have time to wait for a recovery that will likely take years to happen. And even then, don’t expect the market to rise to the lofty levels seen in the past. If you sit there and passively watch your savings dwindle with each monthly statement, you may lose another fifty percent or so before the bottom is reached.

All the articles I’ve read and commentaries I’ve watched avoid the mentioning the Baby Boomer generation. The sad fact is that we are quietly being written off. Our home equity is gone or greatly diminished. Our savings are being savaged. The outlook is not good, and the only advice we are receiving from the financial community is to be prepared to work longer…way longer.

Don’t expect your investment firm – T. Rowe Price, BofA, whomever – to notify you with a recommended strategy for Baby Boomers. You are the last thing on their minds right now, somewhere way below their next bailout or executive retreat.

GET MAD! if you still have some savings, take immediate action. Review your portfolio yourself using tools provided by your investment firm or independent sites like http://www.SmartMoney.com. If you own stocks or mutual funds that performed badly over the past year and continue to lose value every month, SELL THEM! If your portfolio contains stocks from commercial financial institutions, SELL THEM! GET OUT NOW! Remember what happened to WaMu investors and all the other recent examples. Salvage what you can and re-align your savings into safer bonds, CDs or Money Market funds.

You must do the homework yourself or employ someone knowledgeable who understands the dilemma Baby Boomers face. Those of us in our late fifties and sixties don’t have the years to recoup lost earnings. Much of the savings we accumulated over thirty years or so is gone…poof, evaporated. And most of what is left will be gone too unless you take personal control over your situation. There is little chance of getting back what has been lost, but you can do something to prevent losing what is left.