Playing the right role

I am living in the hope that the events of the last eight months will represent a truly 'once in a lifetime' event in the financial world but whether or not this is the case, the fact that such a catastrophe will not occur again for decades is of no consolation whatsoever to somebody close to retirement. One of the interesting things from a financial planning perspective is the fact that the basic bedrock fundamentals have been blown away and, with the second largest economy in the world now having a stock market at a twenty seven year low, how can we now define 'the long term'! What ro...