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I have sympathy for this man. The one I don't have sympathy for was profiled in another WSJ article. A woman lawyer in her 60's (who was laid off if I recall correctly) whose assets had shrunk from over a million dollars to something like $650,000. If she can't figure out how to retain her capital and lessen her expenses, there is definitely something missing in her brain. For her I had absolutely NO sympathy.

Yes, I saw that one too. Pretty ridiculous. A Yale Law School grad, she retired at age 65, apparently from a federal government position. A few year earlier she had opted to take a lump sum instead of a regular pension benefit, and then put the whole lump sum in stocks (never a sane thing to do just a few years from retirement). And she also doesn't own a home ("lost it in a divorce settlement 7 years ago") -- well she must have gotten some cash for it, but apparently she went and spent it on rent. What's wrong with these people? Hasn't it ever occurred to them that they're going to need a place to live for the rest of their lives? Anybody over 30 who isn't buying a home is nuts, if you ask me. With all the special programs for 3% or 5% down, ANYBODY can afford to buy -- just that a lot of people refuse to buy where they can afford to, and squander their money renting some place better (or buy where they can't afford to, and lose the home if they encounter even a few months of unemployment).