Billions of pounds have been wiped off the value of shares after recession fears sparked panic selling across the world. The experts say there is more pain to come - and everyone will eventually feel the impact of the market downturn.

I have shares, should I worry?

If you are still holding stocks and shares in individual companies you're either a hardy soul or have been burying your head in the sand as the markets have been jittery since the start of the year. "This is fairly late in the day - nervous investors will have already moved into cash or safer investments," says Martin Bamford, an independent financial adviser at Informed Choices.
Baby

If you do hold money in the market you need to decide if it is time to crystallise your losses, or if you have the stomach to sit tight and hope for a recovery. Parents who have invested their child trust fund (CTF) voucher in the stockmarket should not be too alarmed - there are years to go before the money can be withdrawn, or in the case of a stakeholder CTF is moved to safer investments, in which time the market could recover.
I moved my money - will I be OK?

It depends where and when you moved it. Money market funds, which had traditionally been seen as a safe haven for investors, have been falling too, while commodities prices have also been dropping. Property funds are doing badly and even cash accounts, which used to be regarded as the safest of safe places to put your money, have had a bad week with the collapse of Icesave. Fixed-interest securities, which traditionally do well when stock markets fall, have failed to ignite this time round, but Bamford reckons they will bounce soon. But he adds: "There is risk in every type of asset class in a recession."
My pension is invested in the stock market. Should I be worried?

Most people start moving money into safer investments as they near retirement, so those with pensions invested in stocks and shares should still have time on their side. However, Bamford says there will be some people approaching retirement who are still exposed to the markets. "There will be people who have been completely caught out by this," he says. "They might have to reconsider their plans for retirement - the timing and their lifestyle may have to be different."

Earlier this week, Hargreaves Lansdown said the value of personal pensions had fallen by a fifth since last year. The latest wave of falls will have wiped even more off their value. However, the firm's head of pensions research, Tom McPhail, says if you have more than 10 years until retirement the best strategy "is just to ignore what is going on at the moment". He explains: "This will all have probably played out by the time you get to retirement, so you should keep paying your regular contributions to your pension."

I have an occupational pension - will I be hit?

You could be. If it is a defined contribution scheme, where the amount you receive when you retire depends on the performance of the assets in which it is invested, then you are in the same boat as anyone with a personal pension. If you are about to retire the company operating your work pension should have been moving your share of the money into safer assets, so you won't be hit too hard. If you have years to go before you finish work, then there is time for losses to be recovered.

If you have a final salary scheme, where the amount you get is linked to your earnings, then you will be insulated from the falls in the short term, says McPhail. "In the medium term it will have an impact, though. One result that we will see is final salary schemes closing at a faster rate than at the moment."

Ros Altmann, an independent pensions analyst, says most employers are likely to give up on final salary schemes: "Most of them were in deficit before the market falls, and almost all will be now." More worrying, she says, is that if your company fails and you end up having to claim your pension through the Pension Protection Fund, you will only get 90% of what you had saved.
My pension has plummeted and now I have to buy an annuity

Unless you have reached 75, at which point the rules say you have to use your fund to buy an annuity to provide you with an income, you might want to sit tight in case the market recovers. The sum of money you have with which to buy the annuity will determine how much you have to live on for the rest of your life, so you might want to wait to see if your fund recovers some of its value and you can buy a better income. The government is considering suspending the rules so that those who have reached 75 can also wait.

However, McPhail warns: "The risk of not cashing in your investment is that there is no certainty that the market will recover soon." And while you wait for it to bounce back, annuity rates could fall. "If you are keeping your money in the market waiting for a recovery, then keep your eye on annuity rates too," he says.

If you are concerned, it would be wise to take advice.
I don't have shares or a pension - will I be OK?

"It's easy to see it as just problems in the financial markets, but this is going to have a knock-on effect on everybody," says Bamford. "The only questions are to what extent and how long it will take to feel the impact."

As the FTSE falls value is knocked off the UK's biggest companies, leaving them with less money to invest. Instead of expanding their businesses they could start reducing staff numbers, leading to redundancies.

Those companies do not exist in a vacuum - they do business with other firms who will also be hit if they start to rein in their spending. Workers everywhere could eventually feel the impact of the downturn.
Is there any good news?

A little. The price of oil has slumped in recent weeks, which should mean cheaper petrol and could ultimately push down gas prices. Interest rates have been cut by 0.5% this week and further cuts are likely as the Bank tries to prop up the UK economy, which is good news for the third of borrowers on tracker mortgages. And while base rate cuts are usually bad news for savers, the fact that banks and building societies are seeking cash means they are still offering attractive interest rates on deposits.

经济衰退导致的恐慌性抛售导致股票市值被抹去了数十亿英镑。专家们说，这还不算完呢－－最终，每个人都会感受到市场低迷的冲击。

我是持股人，我该担心吗？

如果您手中仍有个别公司的股票，不是心理承受力特强的话，那就是从年初市场动荡的时候开始就一门心思死扛了。马丁.班福特(Martin Bamford)，Informed Choices公司的独立财经投资顾问说：“现在已经太晚了，稳健的投资者转成了现金或更安全的投资领域”。

如果您在市场中资金，那割肉的时候到了；或者，您有安安稳稳坐等经济恢复的本事。向儿童信托基金投资（CTF）的父母无需太过担心－－离取出这些钱还有相当长的一段时间，否则，若CTF的持股人把资金转到更安全的投资项目时，市场可能已经复苏了。

我已经离市，总该没事了吧？

这要看看您把资金移到了哪里，什么时候转移的。传统上被投资者们视为安全天堂的货币基金同样在下跌，于此同时，日用品的价格也在下跌。产权基金糟透了，即使是现金账户，这个曾被认为是最安全存钱地点的地方，也因为Icesave的崩溃经历了糟糕的一周。固定利率的有价证券，传统上认为会在证券下跌时表现尚佳的它，这次却没有爆发它的小宇宙，但是班福特预计他们会很快反弹。他补充说，“在经济不景气中，任何形式的资产都有风险。”

我的退休金都投到了股市，我该担心吗？

大多数人在临近退休时把他们的投资转成了比较安全的投资方式，所以，这些把退休金投入证券和股票的人此刻仍有时间。然而，, Bamford说，部分临近退休者仍有暴露于市场危机中的风险。“有些人将完全意识到这一点，他们必须重新审议自己的退休计划－－不论是在退休时间还是退休后的生活方式上都将被迫变得不同。”

本周早些时候，Hargreaves Lansdown 曾说，个人退休金的价值自去年开始已缩水了五分之一。最近几天的下跌浪潮使得缩水数值变得更大。退休金研究公司的主管汤姆.麦克菲尔(Tom McPhail)说，如果离退休尚有10年以上，那么此刻的最佳策略就是“充耳不闻”。他解释说：“等到退休金开始发放时，很可能这一切都已经过去了，所以您应该保持退休金的缴纳。”

我有一份职业养老金－－这会被冲击吗？

有可能。如果这是一份界定养老金（defined contribution scheme），在这种养老金中，您的收益和基金的资产投资收益表现挂钩，就是说，您和任何同样持有个人养老金的人坐在一条船上。

麦克菲尔说，最终薪金方案（ final salary scheme）中，您的收益和与收入挂钩，如果您有这项方案，就可以避免短期的下挫。“虽然在中期上仍然会有冲击。最终我们可以看到的一个结果是，在这段时间，薪金方案关闭速度要得快得多。”

罗斯.奥特曼(Ros Altmann)，独立退休金分析师。他说，多数的雇员倾向于放弃最终薪金方案：“他们中的多数人在市场下挫之前就已经出现了赤字，现在几乎全部出现了赤字。”更令人担忧的事情是，如果您的公司已倒闭，并最终不得不从养老金保障基金（Pension Protection Fund）取出退休金的话，您能得到的只是所存全部金额的90％。

我的退休金暴跌，现在必须去买一份年金（annuity）了。

除非您已经75岁了，处于这种情况下，规定上说您必须用存款买一份年金以提供一份收入，您可以坐等可能出现的市场复苏。您用来买年的资金量将决定您余生赖以为生的收入，所以，也许您想等等看您的基金价值是否能回弹一些，这样您的收入就会有所改善。政府正在考虑延缓这些规定，这样，达到75岁的人群仍可等待一段时间。

然而，麦克菲尔警告说：“投资不兑现的风险在于，市场复苏的明确信号并不存在。”而在您等待经济反弹的时候，年金收益率可能已经下调了。“如果您把资金放在市场里等待复苏就一定要紧密关注年金收益率。”

如果您理解了这一点，就会知道，采纳建议是一种很聪明的方式。

我没有股票或退休金，总该安全了吧？

班福特说：“单纯的金融领域的问题易于发现，但是金融领域的问题会引起连锁反应，唯一的问题是，范围会有多大，感受到冲击需要多长时间。”
富时指数上英国大公司们市值的大跌导致他们可投资资金的减少。无须扩展市场，他们可以开始减少员工的数量，这导致裁员。

这些公司并非存在于真空中－－他们与其他同样紧缩开支的公司做生意。最终所有的雇员都可以感受到市场低迷的冲击。

有什么好消息吗？

很少。近几周，石油价格暴跌，这意味着便宜的汽油，最终将导致油价下跌。本周，银行试图救市，利率下调了0.5％并有进一步下调的可能，这对贷款追踪的第三方借贷者来说是个好消息。一般来说，基本利率的下调对于储蓄者是坏消息，而银行和建筑业正寻求现金这一事件意味着他们仍将为储蓄提供诱人的利率。