Published: Wednesday, 22 Oct 2008 | 9:07 PM ET

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By: Carlo Dellaverson
Web Producer

Another wild ride on Wall St. – so what’s new? As Carmen put it on Wednesday’s show, we can’t let this volatile market take control of us. We’ve got to ride the shockwaves the right way, so there’s less shock and more calm.

It’s not going to be easy. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, predicts the next six months to be “particularly difficult.” Job loss is likely to become more widespread across the country, he said, and unemployment could peak as high as 8% in late 2009 or early 2010. That would be the highest it has been since the early ‘80s.

The best thing you can do, according to Zandi, is stay cautious and prudent – the skills Carmen preaches night after night. If you’re a homeowner worried about your mortgage, contact your mortgage provider right away. If you’re a retiree nervous about your nest egg, inject some extra discipline into your everyday expenses to stay ahead of the game.

Jason Seiden, a management consultant and frequent On The Money contributor, recommended that people stay away from internalizing all the challenges out there. The news is bad, but that doesn’t mean you have to always be in a bad mood, he said. Don’t be looking for the bottom, because you will never find it that way. Just develop the mindset that will get you through the good days and the bad.

Joe Terranova, chief alternative strategist at Virtus Investment Partners and CNBC Fast Money trader said there are a few questions every investor needs to ask right now:

What type of assets are you invested in? Has there been a fundamental change in that asset? If so, are you no longer willing to accept the risk concurrent in that asset? Also, has there been an overinvestment in that asset class? You don’t want to stay levered to something that people are overinvested in, Terranova said, especially these days.

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