Far from Wall Street, on Main Street in Hendersonville, Grace Pace's antiques are rare. Her story is not. "I grew up in a time when you didn't have much," Pace says. "I've always been the frugal one. I've always stuck money under the rug." The 72 year old, like many others her age, banked her retirement on stocks and other investments. That crumbled this week. "I had almost 2300 shares, and I sold them for about $1.20 a share," she says. A third of Pace's nest egg was lost when Wachovia Bank went under.
Now, her misfortune has made national headlines. Pace is the face of financial trouble across the country. First, her story appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Then, on a national news network. Pace, like many other retirees, is worried her children will bear the burden. "It's not the dollars and cents," she says. "It's the insecurity." The story is not uncommon in Hendersonville, where many people come to retire. "Some of my friends are worried about their retirements, because everything is down," says Pace.
For now, she'll save where she can. She hopes soon those headlines will be as rare as the antiques she sells. "I'm just being an ostrich and sticking my head in the sand."
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement