Tempted to pull money from your 401(k)? Consider these other strategies first

Times are tough for boomers and their parents, some of whom are taking drastic steps to deal with the economic downturn, according to a new survey from AARP.

One in four middle-aged (45+) and older workers say they postponed plans to retire due to economic conditions. Almost 25% of people aged 45-to-64 surveyed said they are prematurely taking money out of their 401(k) and other investments. And young boomers are reportedly postponing paying bills and even cutting back on medications.

Before taking such drastic measures, consider these strategies to weather the current storm:

Bring Lunch

Workers should examine their entire financial situation and look for areas first where they can trim expenses, said Christine Fahlund, vice president and senior financial planner at T. Rowe Price Group Inc. "Many of these will be regular, daily or weekly purchases that look small but add up to a significant amount over time," she said. For instance, buying a $5 to $10 lunch every day could add up to $100 to $200 per

NEW YORK (AP) -- Runaway oil prices blew past $130 a barrel for the first time Wednesday and kept going, while gasoline prices persisted in their own relentless climb, rising above $3.80 a gallon. Supply worries, rising demand and a slumping dollar are conspiring to make filling up the car -- and paying for just about everything else -- a growing burden for Americans.

With gas and oil prices setting new records on a daily basis, many analysts are beginning to wonder whether anything can stop prices from rising. There are technical signals in the futures market, including price differences between near-term and longer-term contracts, that crude may soon fall. But with demand for oil growing in the developing world, and little end in sight to supply problems in producing countries such as Nigeria, few analysts are willing to call an end to crude's rally.

Oil's Wednesday rally was fed in part by a report from the Energy Department's Energy Information Administration, which said crude inventories fell by more than 5 million barrels last week. Analysts had expected a modest increase.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery rose $4.19 to settle at $133.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, but prices rose as high as $134.42, up $5.44, in after-hours electronic trading. It was crude's largest one-day price advance since March 26.

Investors seized on the inventory report to boost prices Wednesday, but traders interested in pushing prices higher are increasingly picking and choosing which news they wish to pay attention to, analysts