Hastings Combined Seniors says ride out the coronavirus-inspired financial storm

Hastings Combined Seniors' Brian Buckett says the current dive in the ASX should not mean a sell-off of shares, particularly for those in their retirement years.

"If it goes on for five years it might be a different story though," he added.

Financial markets across the world are reeling from the impacts of the coronavirus while governments are closely considering their responses. The federal government is likely to soon announce details of a stimulus package that will be used to inject confidence back into a slowing market.

People in retirement - and specifically those self-funded retirees - will be watching the share market situation closely over the coming days.

Mr Buckett says he hasn't heard many people "really complaining about things" yet.

"I believe many retirees are working toward making their financial situation less complicated," he said.

"You really want to enjoy your remaining years and anyone that is prudent would have set themselves up so they could ride out any kind of financial problems, including this one.

"It is a fact of life that these things happen. We've had this kind of situation before," he said.

"Everyone's circumstances are different and I've always tried to keep my head down and try to predict things so that you don't get caught up in them."

He did warn that retirees with all their investment eggs in the one basket may be in some trouble.

"If those investments are in shares as soon as there is a fluctuation in the market it is going to affect you.

"It doesn't matter what's going to happen in our daily life, there will always be something unexpected jumping out of the woodwork."

Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association (CPSA) policy manager Paul Versteege agreed the market had fallen sharply.

He says retirees in the share market should have invested on good advice which would have included purchasing defensive stocks.

"And you would have seen that these stocks would have dropped as well," he said.

"At the moment, these dividends are probably safe but people could do nothing worse than sell in a falling market.

"Surprisingly we are not getting a lot of calls from members.

"Our advise is that if you are invested in the share market just ride it out."

Mr Versteege said consensus among association members is that the coronavirus is much more of an issue than the falling share market.

"If you are a retiree and over the age of 75 and have some health issues, you are in an at-risk group," he said.

The policy manager said the CPSA was also awaiting the federal government's stimulus package with interest.

"We expect the stimulus package will target people with less money although we would applaud assistance to self-funded retirees," he said.

"It is crisis time and if the package happens it needs to happen fast.

"The government needs to be mailing out cheques or use the Centrelink payment system very shortly after they make the announcements."

Port Macquarie-based self-funded retiree Bob Collishaw agreed it was no time to panic.

"It is no time to panic - or panic sell," he said. "Personally I see this as a great way to accumulate more shares at a lower price.

"There are different reasons why people invest in the stock market. They are either investing for capital gains or for the dividends.

"At this particular time of the year, it is not easy to sell because there are so many of your shares that have yet gone ex-dividends."

Mr Collishaw pointed to the bounce back in the ASX on Tuesday morning as an indication that panic selling was being reigned in.

"There is a remote possibility that people are starting to think a little bit more sensibly," he said.

"I also think the media has a lot to do with the current situation. It (the reporting) makes people panic."

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