Ensure that you have enough money to provide for yourself financially, whether it’s for an emergency fund or for your retirement years, by putting money away in a nest egg. Special rules apply if you and your husband have been employed and both have paid into Social Security. 401(k) is a retirement savings plan sponsored by your employer and funded by you with money that is deducted from your pretax pay. When stock markets take a dive, and real estate values plummet, often who gets left high and dry are senior citizens, who can have a huge chunk taken out of their retirement savings or the nest egg they have invested in their home. There have been more seniors resorting to borrowing money, even payday loans or reverse mortgages in order to make the move into a nursing home or assisted living community. The baby boomers are going to cripple Social Security, and the next generation or two are going to have to face some far harder choices than generations past.