The Crash: How People Are Coping a Year Later (On the Street)

Published Sept. 15, 2009 at 4:00 a.m.

Lehman Brothers, once the fourth-largest investment bank in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy a year ago today. The bank’s collapse triggered a massive selloff in the stock market and cut many investment portfolio values in half. It also marked the beginning of the biggest financial crisis to affect Main Street since the Great Depression.

As the unemployment rate rose to its highest level in 26 years, millions of Americans lost their homes to foreclosure and turned to unemployment benefits to make ends meet. Although many chose to cut back on spending, saving money became more difficult, as people struggled to hold on to their jobs and salaries remained stagnant. Many older Americans delayed their retirement after watching their funds plummet with the stock market.

SmartMoney.com spoke with a variety of people – a financial consultant, a teacher, an environmental advocate, service workers and students – to get a sense of how Americans’ lives have changed over the last year. Here are their stories.

See the video below.

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