Stocks slammed........

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.......Should you worry.

That depends. Do you have a lot invested in the stock market? Do you need your money out right now in order to maintain your life style.

Probably not. If you have money in your 401-K in stocks you may see a slight loss. If you don't get nervous and yank it out it'll be OK. Stocks go up and down. That's the way the big boys play. Move things up........Sell.......when they go down buy.........wait until they go up again and sell once more.

But you're likely not a big boy in the stock market. You should have a job that brings in at least enough to survive on. That is pay your mortgage, taxes, utilities, food and other needs. Anything left over should go towards accumulating at least a 6 month reserve of cash and ideally a 1 year reserve of cash in a money market or saving account to take care of you for a while in case of a loss of job or disability. If you don't have that right now, start from where you are toward fulfilling that basic reserve.

Not many people put up a food reserve out of their own gardens anymore. When I was a lad we could walk into a closet and pick out food enough to feed us for at least 6 to 8 months until the garden started producing again. We could always go to the field and butcher a cow or pig for meat. Times have changed, but not so much that you couldn't accumulate at least some canned food that would get you by for a while. Once again, start from where you are now and work slowly toward a goal to have this.

If you have anything left over try to buy investments that will protect your input and hopefully increase over time. At least buy something that is worth what you paid for it and will maintain value. Some people buy gold. It goes up and down, but will likely never drop to zero. Likely it will stay even with inflation over the long haul.

The point is that most of the country can do more than they are to protect themselves from the future. Most people spend far more time planning their next vacation than planning for their future.

If you are most people, you might as well paint a big L on your forehead. If that sounds embarrassing, you might consider thinking about your future. If that's too much trouble, just open another beer and kick the Easy Boy back and tune in to American Idol.