Your 401(k) plan is bloodied, the Dow keeps diving, and you're wondering what to do next. So we called Robert Glovsky, president of Mintz Levin Financial Advisors. For the past five years, Wealth Manager has selected the firm as one of the nation's top for wealth management. Forget about wealth. Right now, we'd happily take survival management. Glovsky, who also directs Boston University's Program for Financial Planners, took our questions between appointments.
Is there a single piece of advice you'd give to people right now?
Yeah, be patient. Think about the long term; do not worry about the short term.
Easy for you to say. This is a tough time.
I agree. It's very emotional. It's very difficult right now. It's scary.
So what if you have a little extra money? Invest?
I think part of it is about your goals and your age. If you're younger, I would not be shy about investing because the market will come back. The question is when. And you can't time these things. In fact, if you can dollar-cost average, put in a certain amount every single month; it's a great way to invest.
I'm 38 and own a house, which I paid a lot of money for, and wonder now if this is, in a twisted way, my big chance. Buy low, right?
It's interesting. We talk about the transfer of wealth from your parents' generation to your generation. Most people thought it would happen after they died. In a way, it happened in the last three months. You can now buy homes much cheaper, and you can buy the stock market much cheaper.
Am I crazy to be somewhat tempted to buy into GM or Sirius satellite? They're so cheap.
Yes. You don't know when to get in or when to get out. If you look at it as this is risk money, this is play money, fine. You do it, and then you hope you get lucky. But I wouldn't do it on any real basis of analysis. There's this wonderful quote: "The stock's selling at 3. How much could I lose?" The answer is 3.
So for somebody like me, who knows nothing about this, what should I do?
It's boring, but you should buy mutual funds and keep adding and keep investing for a little period of time or a long period of time and you'll end up with money.
Is this a point where you redo your mortgage?
Clearly, you want to redo your mortgage. If you can refinance now, rates are down to about 5 percent. Sure, absolutely. Anybody with a rate 6 or higher should do it. If you've got a variable rate, it's a great time.
Here's a scenario: Say somebody is down $20,000 in credit-card debt. What should they do?
If you can switch to a no-interest credit card, great, start there. If you can't, then you look for lower-cost debt. It could be an equity loan on your home. Or it could be borrowing from your retirement plan. The problem is you've got make sure you pay it back. The worst thing to do is pay off your credit card by taking it from somewhere else and then running it back up. That's the worst of both worlds.
What's the single worst thing somebody can do right now?
Panic. Sell out now when the market's low. Go to cash out and say, "I'll get back in when the market's up and if I miss the bottom, it's OK.' It sounds great when you talk about it, but you can't do it.
Do you find people are, for lack of a better term, freaking out?
I would say some are. Probably a more apt phrase is people are far more anxious today than they've ever been. They're scared, and they're anxious.
So relax.
Well, try to. Especially if you're younger. You're fine. But if you're older, you've got to take a real hard look at your spending and in some cases, people might not be in as bad a position as they think they are, in spite of what they've lost.
Geoff Edgers can be reached at gedgers@globe.com. 
