The government in November said a planned 2.8bn euros saving in welfare expenditure by 2014 would return it to 2007 levels.

BBC: Irish Republic's austerity plan: Key points at-a-glance

Since he was contributing a decent amount, was invested fairly aggressively, and had 30 years until he planned to retire, our retirement plan estimator calculated that he was actually saving more than he needed to meet his retirement goals.

FORBES: Does It Ever Make Sense to Reduce Your 401(k) Contributions?

After a lifetime of saving for what we anticipated would be a comfortable retirement, we now have expenses we never planned on.

WSJ: When Grandparents Become Parents, the Second Time Around