I closed our 401 several months ago and have been putting the money into physical gold and silver. I don't believe the DOW is going to recover anytime soon. Maybe go up a bit, but I believe it's going to drop into the 7000's. I also believe gold with be in the 1200-1300 range by year end or the first quarter of '09. Silver should also pick up into the mid to upper 20's. In either case, if the fiat of this country continues to be printed at the rate they are today, it could send us into a hyperinflation at which time about the only thing that would be worth anything would be gold and silver, along with guns and lots of bullets. If there is a run on the banks, where everyone panics about having there money in the bank and the banks suddenly not having any since they don't have anywhere near enough to cover deposits, the economy could collapse almost over night. I'm planning on keeping only enough in the bank to pay monthly bills.
Gold has been the only currency to survive for over 5000 years. Any Goldbugs here? Anyone looked at some of the metal sites to try and buy gold, silver, platinum, or roddium in the past week? The answer is almost nothing to buy. Look at ampex.com, or kitco.com, or bulliondirect.
Silver is about 11 an ounce right now. Try to find a 1 ounce ASE, American Silver Eagle, for less than $18-$19. A roll of 20 should be about $220 based on the spot price, but in reality they are selling for $400 a roll. AGE's are the same. A 1 ounce AGE should be about $850. Good luck!!

Remember, If you don't hold it, you don't own it! Paper isn't owning it.

This is only my opinion, please do your own research.