With recent downturn in economy and crisis on the Wall Street almost every American (perhaps every person in the world) has seen one's retirement saving going down quite substantially. Even the safest haven in the retirement plans, viz. money market fund, couldn't keep money safe.

If you already save money in a retirement account you must be knowing that your money usually goes either into bonds or stocks. And by any standard none is a safe haven for a retiree.

So what makes us put money into retirement accounts like 401K, IRA, ROTH IRA, etc. when we know that we might end up losing so much money that we can't even recover in our lifetimes after our retirement? We don't lose money from our bank's saving account for at least $100K (Banks usually have FDIC insurance on your deposit up to $100k)

The answer is very simple. Uncle Sam gives us a nice tax break during our working period and the invested money (mind you it's not saved money grows tax deferred until our retirement. This reduces our current taxable income and the invested money grows tax deferred.

The tax incentive given by the government is meant to promote retirement savings in common masses. But let's not be fooled by that thinking our government is really thinking of common people in their incentives.

Why? Because there is not even one option in any retirement plan that guarantees your money to be there when you retire.

The government should have allowed at least one saving account as a safe haven for our retirement savings.

What if I want to save for retirement but I don't want to put my money into either bonds or stocks? Do I have any option? No, I don't have any choice. Government has created a system where our hard earned money that we save for our retirements ends up being with a few fund managers who play the market on their whims.

Recent loss of the order of trillions of dollars should be an awakening call to our lawmakers to think about common people and preserve their retirement savings in some way.

Why not include simple saving account into our retirement plan? Why not provide safest choices with even 0% return, guaranteeing at least the money people have saved to be always there for them without the fear of waking up one day only to see the retirement saving evaporated by some schemes cooked up by our learned MBAs on the Wall Street?

We must push for overhaul in our retirement plans. Don't belittle yourself thinking you are nothing in more than 10 trillion dollar of stock market. It's people like you whose money has made stock market this worth by having constant money available through our retirement plans. If you pull the plug the entire system might come crashing down. Forgot the speculation of what might happen when baby boomers start taking their retirement check and cashing out money from their retirement accounts?

Voice your opinion to your congressman/congresswoman and ask for at least one safe place to park your money for the retirement.

Inaction is too costly in today's financial crisis. Fight for your rights. Voice for your own saved money.