IRA dropped 20%

[Ron Wood]

Now is not the time to panic and start moving monies around. The sure recipe for disaster is sell low, buy high. When folks get nervous they start selling off their securities for more "stable" investments, but unless the money is needed in the very near future riding out the rough spots will return much more in the long run. I had to wait nearly 10 years to recoup an early investment that was involved in a stock fraud, but I waited it out and doubled my investment in the ensuing 5 years. I am too old to make that kind of wait and see approach for that length of time, but by the same token I am not bailing in the near future.

Most securities based retirement funds have lost 20% or a little more and it is going to take some time, possibly a couple of years, to regain the loss. It certainly is not going to recover as precipitously as it fell.