A cruise and a necklace

When the market crashed last year, I lost $58,000. But that money didn't just vanish- my loss was someone else's gain. Someone like Martin Sullivan, former CEO of the insurance giant AIG. In 2008, the year that he drove the company into the ground, Forbes reported that he made $10.93 million (1).

And I wonder, sometimes- what did he do with that money?

For $58,000, he could take his wife on a lovely 36-day “Top of the World Adventure” that goes from New York to Greenland, then to Iceland (to see the country he helped destroy, financially), then on to happier places like Norway, England, and Denmark.

But wait! That wouldn't use up all of the money I lost!

He’d still have enough leftover to buy a little diamond necklace for his wife. (He's so sweet to her!) I’d suggest the lovely Tiffany Lace Necklace. Only $23,175.

What did your losses buy for someone?

(1) http://www.forbes.com/lists/2008/12/lead_bestbosses08_Martin-J-Sullivan_I8BE.html

No, really...where did it go?

Over sixty million Americans have retirement money invested in the stock market. In late 2008, many people saw their nest eggs evaporate to half of what they were previously. At the same time, executives on Wall Street walked away with hundreds of millions of dollars of this money.

That money that was invested in the stock market didn't just evaporate.

Stanley O'Neal, former CEO of Merrill Lynch, received $172 million from 2003 to 2007 (1). O'Neal lead his company to failure: Lynch was bought out by Bank of America in Sept '08.

Richard Fuld, former CEO of Lehman Brothers, made nearly $185 million in the five years before 2008. In Sept '08, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. (2)

These are just a few of the examples. Where did your retirement money go? Which CEO did it bankroll? And what did it buy for them?

Let us know what your retirement money bought for someone else- a yacht? A second home? A private jet?

Check back here for more info.

(1) Bloomberg, Sept 26, 2008, Wall Street Executives Made $3 Billion Before Crisis, By Tom Randall and Jamie McGee

(2) http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/nov2008/ceos-n28.shtml, Nov 28, 2008, CEOs “cashed out” prior to economic crisis, By Tom Eley