Meltdown 101: Market's effect on retirement plans. Read excerpt below:

Thursday October 24, 2008

By David Pitt, Associated Press
AP via Washington Post

-- With the market seesawing daily, you may have seen your retirement savings, that money you've been counting on, and expecting to grow, shrink to disturbing levels in recent months.

Retirement funding has been tied very closely to the stock and bond markets in an effort to provide the potential for significant growth, but now a lot of Americans are learning the realities of the downside of investing.

Here are some questions and answers about how the stock market affects your retirement savings.

Read entire article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102202548.html