Credit Canada

As the Toronto Stock Exchange's main index plunged further yesterday -- wiping out all of this year's gains -- consumers were being told to keep their fingers crossed and hope the situation doesn't drag on or worsen.

My neighbour Maria and her husband, Frank, bought their three-storey detached house in the heart of downtown Toronto in 1952 for $13,500. Maria, 82, her memory razor-sharp, recalls the mortgage they took on to buy it. They took on a $7,000 closed mortgage at 7%, and paid it off entirely by the end of the five-year term.