What should you do with your money? First, don't listen to anyone on TV; get a financial planner

The cable TV networks are being dominated by people giving financial advice for viewers on what to do with their money in the wake of the 777-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrual Average.

Turn the channel.

Never take financial advice from someone on television.

First, everyone's situation is different. That's why you need a certified financial adviser. You need someone to talk to at length. It took five meetings before I re-invested our household's money. And I talked it over last Friday with my financial adviser when I decided to sell out of a big stock holding due to the bailout problems and generally poor economic data.

The market took its biggest hit today. It will drift down below 10,000 by the end of the year. Sen. Obama's election would drop things a bit further down.

If you took Dave Ramsey's advice 10 days ago on NewsChannel 5, you're not in good position financially when it comes to your investment in the market. I repeated Ramsey's advice to one of the principles in the financial brokerage firm I invest with.

He said Ramsey is good at telling people how to reduce debt, but the market is not his speciality. It's like fighting a disease, he said. You can't just give an antibiotic to one person and then prescribe it for another person who may have an entirely different ailment. That's where Ramsey went wrong with his advice 10 days ago that I blogged about. And NewsChannel 5 was wrong to allow him to air to offer such advice.

So turn off the TV and call for an appointment with a certified financial planner, NOT A BROKERAGE HOUSE. Don't act until you meet with someone with whom you can talk at length with and seek diversity in your investments in and out of the market.