Over the last few days, the stock market has taken a tumble. I have lost count of the number of commentators advising investors not to panic, to stay the course, think long term.

But I’ve also heard just ordinary people talking about being afraid of losing their savings. Last night on the LIRR, two commuters behind me were talking about changing their 401k investments, one was trying to convince the other not to make any dramatic changes.

As for me, I am just taking a deep breath.