On October 19th, 1987, I was a 32-year old stockbroker working for EF Hutton. On that day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 22 percent of its value. That's the largest one-day stock market decline in market history.

Not only did I lose a ton of my personal savings; my clients were wiped out and freaked out.

Not a fun time to be an investment adviser.

Since that time, I've weathered many vicious market beatings. The 7 percent one-day decline in October of 1997. Several 7 percent + one-day declines in 2008. The 10 percent one-day decline in March of 2020.

And here we are again: As of January 25, this is the worst start to a year since people began tracking the S&P 500 index back in 1929. So far this month, the S&P 500 is down 8.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq is down 13.3%.

Losing money hand over fist is bad enough. But if you don't understand why it's happening and what's likely to happen next, it's also dangerous. Because panic leads to bad decisions, like selling when you should be sitting.

That's why we're producing a special edition of the "Money!" podcast. We're going to discuss why the stock market is tanking, what's likely to happen next, and what you should be doing. We'll also recap other important personal finance news that's happened this month and check in on our personal investments.

As usual, my co-host is financial journalist Miranda Marquit. Listening in and sometimes contributing is producer and novice investor Aaron Freeman.

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