>>>My guess 4.5%
>>
>>7%
>>
>>UK down 5.5 yesterday another 3 today. Say goodbye to your pension funds again.
>
>If your pension is starting today, then yes. Else, simply keep your stocks. Personally I'm thinking about the right moment to BUY some extra.
>
>One can also buy or write one or more put options, but IMO esp. short term puts are an extreme risk at this moment. Who can predict what the index will be in exactly one week from now? It can be lower, the same and higher. Sure, that's always true, but this week it's even more true that no one can really know how it will develop.
>
>If I buy, perhaps today, then it'll be for the long run and it will be regular options.
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Put_option

In the UK many companies have cut their pension fund contributions as stocks have done well and they can claim the funds are in surplus. When stocks drop it leaves the funds short. This also happened in the uk with endowment mortgages where repayments are linked to savings fund. As stocks drop those savings funds no longer have enough money to repay the mortgage.

Over here the papers have started to talk about monoline insurers (they insure the banks against losses.) if they start being unable to pay out things could get rather difficult. Also several UK property finds are now not letting people withdraw their savings as their cash deposits are getting very low and they risk having to sell property (in a falling market) to pay out.

Yes in the long term everything will come up but I think we are in for a few difficult years.

Nick