If you’re over the age of 45, you’re likely to be watching the markets in a state of panic.

Older Americans with investments are among the hardest hit by the turmoil on Wall Street and have the least opportunity to recover. The New York Times reports on how as various companies have switched from fixed pensions to 401(k) accounts, retirees risk losing big portions of their wealth and income in just a single day’s trading. Many have already lost their stash.

“There’s a terrified older population out there,” Alicia H. Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, told the Times. “If you’re 45 and the market goes down, it bothers you, but it comes back. But if you’re retired or about to retire, you might have to sell your assets before they have a chance to recover.”

Today’s retirees have less money in the bank, live longer and are more exposed to market risk than any retirees since World War II. Many outlive their savings.

Older people with few assets, including retirees who rely on Social Security for most of their income, may not suffer directly from stocks’ decline, but they feel the crunch of higher gas and food prices, as well as reductions in volunteer services like Meals on Wheels. They’re also feeling the housing crunch; Americans over age 63 pulled $300 billion out of their home equity through refinancing from 2001 to 2006, lowering their net worth.

And the AARP and other groups say more workers are putting off plans to retire at retirement age, and are borrowing cash from their 401K accounts to pay for living expenses, such as mortgage debt.

“I can sustain the ups and downs, as long as the downs are followed by ups,” said Carol J. Emerson, 65, whose annual income of $50,000 comes almost entirely from dividends. “But I cannot sustain a constant slow erosion. I am assuming, despite all the terrible news, that somehow things will get better.”