Stock Market Today News Report and Stock Markets: Game, Quotes, Crash, Hours, Dummies, and Tips

For investors who endured the bruising downturn and were seeing green again in their 401(k)s, Tuesday’s Wall Street tumble was a rude awakening – and a reminder that retirement savings are not always secure.”People are frightened,” said Scott Brewster, a certified financial planner with Brewster Financial Planning in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “Everywhere we turn, there is bad news.”The pain could get even worse Friday, when the latest U.S. jobs report comes out. Negative numbers could send markets – and nest eggs – down even more.

“Everyone is focused on Friday’s numbers,” said Bradford Pine, president of Bradford Pine Wealth Group in midtown. “If they are bad, the market could go into fear mode.”It hurts to watch stocks decline and 401(k)s shrink, but investors far from retirement should hold tight – as long as they are diversified with bonds and cash in addition to stocks, experts say.The key is not to panic, but to keep saving and taking advantage of stock market declines.”Stay with your allocation,” said Lewis Altfest, CEO of Altfest Personal Wealth Management in midtown. “Take your hands and fold them. It’s way too early to say we are entering a recession.”

Brewster said many investors don’t realize that when the news is the worst, that is often the best time to buy.It looked prudent to sell in March of 2009 when the world looked so dark,” he said. “A year later, people were kicking themselves for not seeing how clearly it was a great buying opportunity.”Retirement savers getting closer to their golden years have more to fear from an economic slowdown, especially if they are heavily invested in stocks.”If you are retiring shortly, you need to know where your threshold is and readjust,” Pine said. “You have to reexamine.