You've heard it in the news, from your father, and from your friends in banking: COVID-19 is leading the US into recession. (Opens in new tab) These are tough times, but that doesn't mean we need to blindly tackle our finances. We tapped Sally Krawcheck, a banking veteran and founder of Ellevest (opens in new tab), a financial planning service focused on women, to answer questions about investing and money management during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I started my career as a research analyst covering the stock market. The stock market speaks to us and tells us what is happening. The stock market tells us that we are in a recession, perhaps a depression. The fact that stock prices have fallen so rapidly tells us that. It was the worst first quarter in over 100 years and the fastest transition from what we call a bull market (a strong, robust stock market in an uptrend) to what we call a bear market (down over 20%) (our market is down over 30%).

The number one and number two questions we get at Elbest are (in varying order): Should I buy or should I sell?" In general, the answer is "no" to both. If you follow your gut and run today, you will likely miss the upside. Rising markets after such declines tend to occur before there is a clear break from recession.

This way of thinking is wrong. What you should do is what is called portfolio rebalancing (buying and selling assets to maintain a desired asset allocation or level of risk). For example, let's say you started with a fairly risky portfolio of 70% stocks and 30% bonds. Such a portfolio should produce high returns over time. Because of stock market trends, it might be 55-45 instead of 70-30; you might want to get back to 70-30, i.e., buy stocks and sell bonds. Thus, rebalancing toward a goal may force you to make counterintuitive decisions that you might not otherwise make.

I would continue to do this assuming your finances are in good shape (you have an emergency fund and low debt). Do not look at existing balances. Investing 1% of each paycheck, buying stocks low and selling high, will work much better than trying to guess the market; even the CNBC cast members talk confidently about the timing of their trades, but they usually do no better than average. We have recovered from every recession in our history. If history is any guide, we will recover from this recession, even if it is a bumpy ride.

Yes, if we can afford it. There is nothing historically unusual about this stock market decline that it will not recover from.

Yes, there is. We all want to do things differently because we feel that things are risky right now. But the fact is, we're going to look at this period in a few years and wish we had invested more instead of less, wish we had never stopped contributing to our Roth IRAs, wish we had doubled or tripled our contributions, wish we had never taken a risk on our investments, wish we had never taken a risk on our investments, wish we had never taken a risk on our investments.

It depends on your personal situation. You will receive a check for $1,200 as part of the stimulus package. Unemployment will increase, especially for those who did not have unemployment insurance, like freelancers. But some will run out of emergency funds. Some will have to borrow money on credit cards. If you find yourself in that situation, stop investing. Instead, go into saving mode: you need to replenish your emergency fund and pay off your credit card debt before you can resume investing.

Sit down and list all the areas where you are spending money and figure out where you can cut back. What you can do right now is eat out and travel. Use the funds to pay off your credit card debt. Another thing I would recommend to those who are stuck at home is to "dial with a smile." Call your cell phone company and ask for a contract. Call the power company. Call the cable company; cancel unnecessary subscriptions like Netflix and Hulu. Call the student loan company. Take advantage of student loan payments being forgiven for a few months. Student loan payments are forgiven for a couple of months, so take advantage of that. But if you are paying on time, call and ask if you can get the interest rate lowered. on credit cards where you may be paying 18%, 22%, or 25% interest, transfer the balance to a zero balance card if possible and use the money saved to pay off the principal balance. it won't save you a million dollars, but it will add up. It won't save you a million dollars, but it will make a big difference if it adds up.

We always recommend that you set aside three to six months of your take-home (after-tax) pay and put that money in an FDIC-insured (open in new tab) savings account. In other words, the government guarantees that money. If you haven't already set aside an emergency fund, it's not too late. What I just told you will become an issue: on the other hand, where you can reduce your expenses.

If you have savings and credit card debt, use the savings to pay down the debt. This may seem a little counter-intuitive, but your savings are not providing any income, and your credit card debt is costing you a lot of money. Regarding Sally, you might say, "What if I have an emergency? What if there is an emergency? If that happens, you will have another credit card debt. Some people ask, what if the credit card debt is written off? That has never happened in history. That is not possible. [At Elbest, we don't invest much in the stock market. The reason why we don't is because of times like this [unexpected recession]. More money should be invested in bonds and debt. Bonds and debt actually borrow money whereas stocks own a portion of a large company like IBM. Debt tends to be less sexy than stocks because the stock market can go up, but with debt you only get the amount you loaned back with interest. Invest this way and you will be fine. It might take you six months to buy a house, but you'll still be fine.

Conversely, for long-term investments like retirement, you should have more equity, which means more risk, but usually a greater return in the long run.

If you are doing so, you are probably too late. If you had realized a few weeks ago that you were going to invest in Clorox Wipes or Zoom, you probably would have made a lot of money. Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't trade bitcoin. Another question we get is a bit apocalyptic: should we buy gold? I love to joke with my husband and try to convince him that gold is an investment. Think about ancient Egyptian gold. Ancient Egyptian stocks and bonds have no value whatsoever.

There are two reasons why you should buy gold: one: it's beautiful; two: it tends to hold its value; and three: it's a good investment. If you are super nervous, you can always buy gold.

I expect more volatility in the stock market. I think it will get better before we fully realize that we are out of the recession. Frankly, I don't think we will see a full recovery until there is some sort of resolution to the virus.

When we actually go into a recession, every recession feels worse than any before it. This recession feels especially severe because it concerns our health. But again, we have recovered from recessions at all times in our history. It may take a little longer this time, but the entrepreneurial spirit in the U.S. will reverse and send the stock market even higher.

Ellevest is here to answer your financial questions. [email protected].(opens in new tab)

Celebrity news, beauty and fashion advice, savvy political commentary, fascinating features and more! To read more stories, sign up for the Marie Claire newsletter.

Click here to register (opens in new tab)