LCDX was the newest piece of artillery in the credit derivatives armoury when the index - allowing investors to buy and sell protection on the loans of 100 US companies with high-yield, high-risk ratings - was launched by a group of banks in May. Last week it was re-shuffled for the first time. Has it been a success?

Yes and no. In six months, it has established itself as the benchmark index for leveraged loans. Hedge funds have poured in, whether because they are not set up to trade the underlying loans, or because the index is much easier to short. Total volumes traded to the end of September were about $405bn. That is almost 10 times larger than the outstanding amount of credit default swaps on US loans.

But with increased liquidity has come increased volatility. Leveraged loans used to be bought and then sat on, moving one or two basis points a day in their heaviest trading. As the new index began to slide in June, mirroring falls in the ABX index of mortgage bonds, it provided very visible evidence of a change in

Four years ago, after an almost three-decade-long career at the accounting firm McGladrey & Pullen, Ambrose Jones did some soul searching, crunched the numbers - generously padded by a buyout he received after H&R Block acquired part of the firm in 1999 - and decided, at the age of 55, to retire.

His next step? Go back to school to pursue his lifelong dream of getting a PhD in accounting and, ultimately, teach.

Now a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Jones teaches several advanced auditing classes. His work has been published in academic journals and six new research projects are underway. To be sure, he brings home a fraction of what he earned as a partner at McGladrey, but he couldn't be happier. "There's a lot of enjoyment in teaching and research," he says. "It makes me feel like I'm 25 years younger."

If the retirement surveys that almost every financial company is conducting these days are to be believed, this is a scenario that millions of adults dream of. For instance, nearly three quarters - 71% -