Linda is in a panic.

She’s a 65-year-old divorcée who knew she had a very risky investment strategy for her age. She’s recently retired and receives about $1,300 in Social Security. Financial support she is receiving from an ex will end next year.

All was going well until the coronavirus outbreak sent stock markets around the world tumbling.

Linda has 100 percent of her retirement money invested in equities. She has a home and about $60,000 in cash, which is about enough for one year of living expenses.

“My plan has been to try to grow half of the IRA that I received in the divorce, which was much too low to begin with, as aggressively as I could in exchange-traded funds (ETF),” she wrote. “At that time I was going to move into dividend stocks and use the dividends as income. But now my loss, on paper, has wiped out much of my growth. It’s very scary. I knew my plan was very risky. I am starting to regret it. I am a bit panicky and wondering what to do now.”

Here’s what Linda wanted to know about her retirement account, which was as high as $714,000. Last week, the value had dropped to about $626,000.

— “I feel that now is not the time to start selling these high-growth ETFs to buy dividend stocks. Am I right?”

— “Should I wait until the market goes up again? Or switch before things get even worse, when I know I will need to start using portions of dividends at least for income to live on?” I asked two certified financial planners (CFP) what they might advise Linda to do. Their guidance may help if you are in a similar situation.

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