Nearly everyone I know who has invested in the stock market has had major losses over the past two years. Some of those people are in retirement and had been living off of dividends and proffits from stock market gains up until the market changed drastically. Fortunately, most of the people I know in this situation also had other funds to back them up and were not relying solely on the stock market for their livelyhood.
The old saying of “Never put all your eggs in one basket” is a pretty good rule to live by. If you only have money in the stock market and the stock market crashes as it has done before, then what exactly are you left with and what are you supposed to do about it?
First of all, you’re going to have to make sure you can cover all of your current expenses. Do your best to not get behind on your mortgage or any of your regular monthly payments. If this means that you have to sort through all of your personal belongings and start selling off unwanted items on Ebay or Craigslist, then so be it. You are going to have to do something to get money and keep your head above the water.
Avoid charging everything to credit cards because this is not a solution. You need extra cash, not extra credit if you’re going to keep yourself financially stable. Are you capable of going to work on a regular basis? If you were relying on the stock market for survival and now it isn’t profitable, then maybe going back to work isn’t such a bad idea. If you don’t like the idea of getting dressed for work everyday and having to clock in and out, then consider a job working at home. Freelance writing, claims processing, medical transcription, and even certain types of sales can be done from your own home, assuming that you own a computer and are able to work at least a few hours each day.
Don’t like the idea of going back to work at all? Then you’re going to have to be very clever and come up with some way of getting regular income to take the place of what you were getting out of the stock market. Sure, the economy is up and down, but at the moment it is down and we don’t know when it will be back up again. We have to cut our losses and keep moving forward.
If you are in a terrible bind and need cash quickly, then you need to go to your local bank and see what they can do to help you out. Perhaps you need to consider a mortgage on your home or a personal loan to get you through until you can find ways of getting back on your feet again. Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep moving ahead. Dwelling on the fact that your golden goose has stopped laying eggs isn’t going to get your bills paid.