時尚雙語:經濟危機：我們老百姓能做些什麼？

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trust fund (CTF) voucher in the stockmarket should not be too alarmed - there are years to go before the money can be withdrawn, or in the case of a stakeholder CTF is moved to safer investments, in which time the market could recover.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.

經濟衰退導致的恐慌性拋售導致股票市值被抹去了數十億英鎊。專家們說，這還不算完呢－－最終，每個人都會感受到市場低迷的衝擊。

我是持股人，我該擔心嗎？

如果您手中仍有個別公司的股票，不是心理承受力特強的話，那就是從年初市場動盪的時候開始就一門心思死扛了。馬丁.班福特(Martin Bamford)，Informed Choices公司的獨立財經投資顧問說：“現在已經太晚了，穩健的投資者轉成了現金或更安全的投資領域”。

如果您在市場中資金，那割肉的時候到了；或者，您有安安穩穩坐等經濟恢復的本事。向兒童信託基金投資（CTF）的父母無需太過擔心－－離取出這些錢還有相當長的一段時間，否則，若CTF的持股人把資金轉到更安全的投資項目時，市場可能已經復甦了。

我已經離市，總該沒事了吧？

這要看看您把資金移到了哪裏，什麼時候轉移的。傳統上被投資者們視爲安全天堂的貨幣基金同樣在下跌，於此同時，日用品的價格也在下跌。產權基金糟透了，即使是現金賬戶，這個曾被認爲是最安全存錢地點的地方，也因爲Icesave的崩潰經歷了糟糕的一週。固定利率的有價證券，傳統上認爲會在證券下跌時表現尚佳的它，這次卻沒有爆發它的小宇宙，但是班福特預計他們會很快反彈。他補充說，“在經濟不景氣中，任何形式的資產都有風險。”

我的退休金都投到了股市，我該擔心嗎？

大多數人在臨近退休時把他們的投資轉成了比較安全的投資方式，所以，這些把退休金投入證券和股票的人此刻仍有時間。然而，, Bamford說，部分臨近退休者仍有暴露於市場危機中的風險。“有些人將完全意識到這一點，他們必須重新審議自己的退休計劃－－不論是在退休時間還是退休後的生活方式上都將被迫變得不同。”

本週早些時候，Hargreaves Lansdown 曾說，個人退休金的價值自去年開始已縮水了五分之一。最近幾天的下跌浪潮使得縮水數值變得更大。退休金研究公司的主管湯姆.麥克菲爾(Tom McPhail)說，如果離退休尚有10年以上，那麼此刻的最佳策略就是“充耳不聞”。他解釋說：“等到退休金開始發放時，很可能這一切都已經過去了，所以您應該保持退休金的繳納。”

我有一份職業養老金－－這會被衝擊嗎？

有可能。如果這是一份界定養老金（defined contribution scheme），在這種養老金中，您的收益和基金的資產投資收益表現掛鉤，就是說，您和任何同樣持有個人養老金的人坐在一條船上。

麥克菲爾說，最終薪金方案（ final salary scheme）中，您的收益和與收入掛鉤，如果您有這項方案，就可以避免短期的下挫。“雖然在中期上仍然會有衝擊。最終我們可以看到的一個結果是，在這段時間，薪金方案關閉速度要得快得多。”

羅斯.奧特曼(Ros Altmann)，獨立退休金分析師。他說，多數的僱員傾向於放棄最終薪金方案：“他們中的多數人在市場下挫之前就已經出現了赤字，現在幾乎全部出現了赤字。”更令人擔憂的事情是，如果您的公司已倒閉，並最終不得不從養老金保障基金（Pension Protection Fund）取出退休金的話，您能得到的只是所存全部金額的90％。

我的退休金暴跌，現在必須去買一份年金（annuity）了。

除非您已經75歲了，處於這種情況下，規定上說您必須用存款買一份年金以提供一份收入，您可以坐等可能出現的市場復甦。您用來買年的資金量將決定您餘生賴以爲生的收入，所以，也許您想等等看您的基金價值是否能回彈一些，這樣您的收入就會有所改善。政府正在考慮延緩這些規定，這樣，達到75歲的人羣仍可等待一段時間。

然而，麥克菲爾警告說：“投資不兌現的風險在於，市場復甦的明確信號並不存在。”而在您等待經濟反彈的時候，年金收益率可能已經下調了。“如果您把資金放在市場裏等待復甦就一定要緊密關注年金收益率。”

如果您理解了這一點，就會知道，採納建議是一種很聰明的方式。

我沒有股票或退休金，總該安全了吧？

班福特說：“單純的金融領域的問題易於發現，但是金融領域的問題會引起連鎖反應，唯一的問題是，範圍會有多大，感受到衝擊需要多長時間。”
富時指數上英國大公司們市值的大跌導致他們可投資資金的減少。無須擴展市場，他們可以開始減少員工的數量，這導致裁員。

這些公司並非存在於真空中－－他們與其他同樣緊縮開支的公司做生意。最終所有的僱員都可以感受到市場低迷的衝擊。

有什麼好消息嗎？

很少。近幾周，石油價格暴跌，這意味着便宜的汽油，最終將導致油價下跌。本週，銀行試圖救市，利率下調了0.5％並有進一步下調的可能，這對貸款追蹤的第三方借貸者來說是個好消息。一般來說，基本利率的下調對於儲蓄者是壞消息，而銀行和建築業正尋求現金這一事件意味着他們仍將爲儲蓄提供誘人的利率。