All of these can temporarily suspend regular investment plans. Permanent crimps in investing can arise when retirement plans are fully funded or retirement itself commences. Professionals and nonprofessionals alike are subject to the laws of supply and demand, and can find themselves at times between jobs, underemployed, or just plain out of work. These things happen to us all, and for most, the idea of maintaining regular investment plans during such tribulations seems impossible. Where will the money come from?

I have been a regular investor for over three decades, faithfully putting aside the dollars needed for retirement and stuffing them into stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Imagine my surprise the day my financial adviser informed me that my retirement plan was now fully funded. This was a good-news/bad-news situation. The good news was that I would now be able to retire at 60 percent of my peak earnings for the rest of my life. The bad news was that as a compulsive saver and avid investor, I would no longer be able to contribute new capital with which to play the market, either for the purpose of buying new issues or for acquiring additional shares of my favorite companies. I could sell existing equities to do such things, but as an inveterate "buy-and-hold" investor, I was loath to trade in any of my equity holdings.