CNBC-
Joe Vier was on track for a secure retirement as an advertising executive in the Detroit auto industry. He was making more than $100,000 a year and contributing to his 401(k) savings plan at work. That was in 2008.
Then the S&P 500 tumbled roughly 50 percent and $2.7 trillion in retirement accounts were lost in the crash.
Detroit was particularly hard hit — bankruptcies in the auto industry led to mass layoffs and a foreclosure crisis that brought the city to its knees.
