CHICAGO (AP) — Cheryl and Jim Friedman, retirees in St. Louis, had two-thirds of their retirement money in the stock market in 2008. When the financial crisis struck that fall and stocks lurched up and down with nauseating speed, Cheryl, a former accountant, pulled the money out.
Fearing that the next crisis was always around the corner, they have kept most of the money out. It's parked in a money-market account earning a meager 0.1 percent per year. The Friedmans watched in agony as stock prices doubled over the past three years.
"I have a whole lot of money sitting on the sidelines, because I'm afraid," she says. "The little guy is thinking, 'Well, things are good again now, I'll get back in.' And that's when they pull the rug out from under you."
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