WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Tuesday the government should pay more than "fire-sale" prices for the toxic assets it would acquire under a proposed $700 billion bailout plan. That could mean both higher initial costs for taxpayers and reduced returns when the assets are later resold.

Bernanke's comment was the first indication of how he and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are thinking about formulating the rescue plan's medicine in a way that doesn't kill the patients. Requiring banks and other financial institutions to sell troubled loans and other assets anywhere close to recent sales prices of only a few cents on the dollar could wipe out the net worth of many and lead to a new wave of bank failures.

The Fed chairman said he favors buying the assets based on their "hold-to-maturity" value, which would require an estimate to be made of what each security will eventually be worth as payments come in over the years.

"If the Treasury bids for and then buys assets at a price close to the hold-to-maturity price, there will be substantial benefits," Bernanke told the Senate Banking Committee. "First, banks will have a basis for valuing those assets and will not have to use fire-sale prices. Their capital will not be unreasonably marked down."

"I understand what (Bernanke) is trying to accomplish," said accounting expert Art Bowman, who publishes Bowman's Accounting Report. At the same time, it may be difficult to discern when the market turnaround will occur.

"When does that mean?" Bowman said. "What does maturity define?"

Market turmoil leaves investors wondering whether lessons about risk still apply.

A financial crisis being described as the worst since the Great Depression has left investors thinking far beyond the realm of whether it's time to buy or sell.

No matter how close they are to retirement, many are considering getting out of the stock market entirely by shifting to cash or even gold, believing the market is so shaky they're willing to take the potential tax and inflation erosion they'll suffer from a quick pullout.

Others are staying in, even after this year's 14 percent decline to date in the Dow Jones industrial average has eaten away at what they had thought were safe portfolios.

"Right now, it is just a loss on paper. If I pull out now, it becomes an actual loss," says Deborah Allen, a 51-year-old administrative assistant at a Royal Oak, Mich., school district who's trying to protect a nest egg she's relying on to take early retirement next year.

Allen has about $50,000 in a retirement account, known as a 457 plan, that she plans to use in early retirement until she can draw pension benefits at age 55. But despite a conservative investment mix, the account has shrunk this year in a falling market.

"The money that I thought was going to be there isn't there, so I'm going to have to really look closely over how I'm handling my money for at least the next year," she said.

Many others are cutting back on expenses or considering delaying retirement -- the primary aspects of

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is investing at least $5 billion in Goldman Sachs, a huge vote of confidence for one of the survivors of the credit crisis that felled two of its investment banking peers.

In addition to buying $5 billion in preferred stock, Berkshire also got warrants to buy another $5 billion in Goldman's common stock. Goldman also said late Tuesday it would raise another $2.5 billion in its own public stock offering.

The news sent shares of Goldman Sachs and stock index futures soaring in electronic trading, after the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a triple-digit decline for the second day in a row.

It also could lead to new probing questions from lawmakers for Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, a former co-CEO of Goldman Sachs. He and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress hours earlier that quick action on a $700 billion bailout measure for financial services firms was needed to prevent economic havoc.

Goldman Sachs' shares had been tumbling ahead of the announcement of the government rescue plan last Friday as investors feared it could face the same kinds of funding squeezes as Bear Stearns and Lehman. Now members of Congress have to deal what may look to many taxpayers like Wall Street is already cashing in.

Buffett, one of the most successful investors in history, made no mention of what is happening in