Can Families Trust A Volatile Market?

For One Couple Close To Retirement, Sinking Stocks Means Continuing To Work

(CBS)  This is part of a CBS Evening News series called "Hitting Home," which looks at how the slumping economy affects individual Americans and their families.

---

It was a rollercoaster ride 63-year-old Carlos Sosa didn't want to take.

But he's holding on, watching for word of when the bumpy ride may end, CBS News correspondent Sandra Hughes reports.

"Is this a real big trend, a dangerous trend?" Sosa asked.

He's a semi-retired social worker, teaching part time at the University of Southern California. His wife Margaret sells her artwork. They still help out their grown kids.

"My husband and I are close to full retirement," Margaret Sosa said.

Not now - with their own 401Ks invested in nervous markets.

"I said, I'm 60. That's it. I'm staying home," Sosa said. "And then 62. Sixty-two, that's it, no more. Now I'm gonna be 64 next week, and wow, I'm not saying that anymore."

But financial advisors say whether you're 34 or 64, now is not the time to panic and sell.

"Don't panic. In the long haul you lose more if you take money out now," said Sosa's financial planner Louis Barajas.

Fact is, the Sosas have been here before.

"With 9/11, a terrible thing!" Sosa said. "We took a big hit. But then it went back up."

And the experts say: "have patience. It'll happen again."

Sosa said: " I have faith in the American economic system," Carlos Sosa said. "I have faith but errr! I'm also very cautious."

For now, the Sosas will keep the faith. But they'll also keep working.