"It's disturbing. It's disturbing for everyone who's retired and has a pension," said Duane Pansegrau of Stillman Valley.
The retired Com Ed worker lives off his company pension. Now he plans to check up on it, following Tuesday's announcement from Capital Hill that pension plans lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months.
"We may have to back to work. That's what a lot of people have to do right now that are retired because of pensions plans collapsing," Pansegrau said.
The announcement came from a top Congressional Budget Analyst speaking before a House panel that's investigating the Wall Street financial crisis and it's impact on retirement savings.
"Pensions are directly related to what the financial markets are doing right now because 50 to 70 percent of pensions are invested in the equity markets," Laue said.
Laue, with Savant Capital Management of Rockford, says clients are calling a lot right now. He's urging them to stay the course and not panic about this pension loss. But he did offer this advise if people can.
"Whether that's participating in their employer's 401 K, or adding contributions to your IRA if they're able to," Laue said.
He says ultimately history's proven that our economy can bounce back and he's optimistic it will this time around.
"History tells us that after we go through times like this, we see bounces back and they tend to be pretty dramatic and they tend to be pretty quickly," Laue said.
So perhaps some peace of mind for folks like Pansegrau, heading home for some homework on his pension.
Despite the advice, a recent Associated Press poll says more than half of people surveyed say they will still have to work longer because the value of their retirement savings has declined. And the congressional budget analyst speaking on Capitol Hill says these losses are likely to force many workers to hold off on major purchases and delay their retirements.