I'm on the road visitng family and friends for the holidays.

My parents, in-laws, and many relatives are baby boomers.

I have been watching the latest stock market drop with interest, but I haven't really been too distressed about it because I am young and have a lot of time for the market to rebound before I need my money. I see this more as a buying opportunity.

However, by visiting with so many baby boomers, I have had the ability to see the gloom this market has brought to a large segment of our population.

They all worked so hard to put away money into their retirement accounts and now some of that money is gone.

It makes me wonder if I am doing the right thing by working hard to put money into investments I don't necessarily understand. Is it possible for me to work my entire life only to have a large portion of my retirement savings disappear right before I am ready to retire?

I know I will need to transfer some of my retirement savings into safer investments such as bonds when I approach retirement age, but this trip through baby boomer gloom has me thinking about the markets in a completely different way.