Financial panic shakes everyone

Americans haven't been knocked as much off stride since Sept. 11, 2001. But make no mistake, the current financial crisis, while not as tragic and compelling from a loss-of-life standpoint, is just as devastating in the lives of millions of people.
While the carnage and magnitude of the 9/11 attacks shook this nation to the roots, the economic damage left by the past couple of weeks of economic chaos is taking a huge personal emotional toll on most everyone.

After all, lots of older Americans have seen their nest eggs shrink significantly as the stock market plunged. Those who counted on their investments, gained through decades of hard work and saving, to help out with retirement simply don't know what to do. They have been wiped out by circumstances beyond their control.

Baby boomers have been hit hard as well. Their well-planned-out strategies featuring 401(k) accounts or money market portfolios have been significantly dented.
And just about everyone has to wonder what the credit crisis, brought on by failed mortgages in a wide segment of the nation, will mean for the long term.

The scary thing is that there really is no safe haven for investments at this point. Some have pulled their remaining money out of the stock market and put it into things like Treasury bills, but that has only added fuel to the fire that is engulfing stocks in all sectors.

The $700 billion bailout package pushed through Congress (an unpopular move with the majority of Americans) did nothing to calm the panic.

Rational people will look back at the financial havoc after 9/11, which was among the most desperate of times this nation has faced in its history, and realize that there was a slow recovery.

So the obvious reaction is to remain as calm as possible and not dwell on those short-term losses. That's not easy advice to accept, but it's as good as it gets for now. And it's a slight comfort for those who don't need access to their savings right now.

With luck, continued investment by those in 401(k) plans will result in buying more shares at the smaller price, meaning that if and when the prices go back up, the shakeout actually will have been a good thing for some.

Patience may be the only bright spot in this wild and crazy ride. We just hope, along with everyone else affected by the crash, that it will be virtue over the long haul.