Hard Times Wreak Havoc On Retirements

The AARP says the nation's current financial crisis poses an unprecedented threat to the well-being of older Americans, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller.

At 63, Marian Rivman was semi-retired with plans to spend the next phase of her life re-living her globe-trotting youth.

"I traveled the long way home from the Peace Corps in the '60s," she recalled.

Now those plans are on hold, after the stock market's nosedive put a huge dent in her retirement savings - Rivman estimates she's lost around 20 percent from its height.

Now she's back in the workforce, reprising her old job as a marketing specialist.

"I've put the word out that I'm not doing work for fun, I'm doing work for real and clients are beginning to come."

Like millions of baby boomers ages 55 to 65 who are on the brink of retirement, Rivman doesn't have years to recoup the losses to her retirement assets. According to the AARP, older Americans are the most vulnerable investors in these troubled times.

"People who are starting to retire are starting to panic," said Bill Losey, a certified financial planner and author of "Retire in a Weekend." "The number one fear of American retirees is 'Will I outlive my money.' "

Losey is trying to convince jittery retired clients not to cash out of the market. The AARP says some Americans 45 years and older are already raiding 401(k)s or curtailing contributions to pension plans.

"The last thing you want to have to do is pull from your investment portfolio - your stocks and bonds - when they're going down in value," he said.

For those still working, experts say retiring now should be the last resort in a bear market.

"Consider delaying several years and waiting to withdraw from your portfolio and taking social security a few years later," said Christine Fahlund, senior financial planner at T. Rowe Price. "You get eight percent more social security each year you wait."

So Rivman, like more than a quarter of all older American workers, has postponed plans to retire.

"I had been the good girl. I had saved, I had a nest egg. I did all the right things," she said. "I never lived beyond my means. I never had credit card debt."

Now she's delaying her golden years to secure her 91-year-old mother's - a promise she intends to keep.