Many Americans can't retire as rates slump

TWELVE years after retiring as a telephone repairman, Roger Wood clocks 12 to 15 hours a week at a Lowe's Cos hardware store near Glen Allen, Virginia.

"About the same amount I made 30 years ago," Mr Wood, 69, says of his US$12 hourly wage. "I'm worried about my portfolio because of low interest rates, even to the point of considering full-time again."

Feeble returns on the safest investments such as bank deposits and fixed-income securities represent a "financial repression" transferring money from savers to borrowers, says Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund.