'The 1987 crash was over in a day or two, but this one is like a death by a thousand cuts,'
- Mr Brian Ingham, who helped start Sydney-based Nucleus Global Investors in Aug.

'There goes my retirement. I'll be living in an Internet cafe.'
- Motoki Tagawa, 62, a retired sales agent for General Motors Corp. in Tokyo.

'I can't help counting how much money I've lost every day when I sleep at night.'
- Ms Jinmei, a 70-ear-ld retired worker in Beijing.

'It's not fair that we have to take the pain of what rich people have done to get richer.'
- Takashi Yamada, 75, who lives on a pension of US$1,619 (S$2,394) a month in Tokyo.