Stock markets resumed their steep drop Wednesday, losing 450 points and sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 7 percent since Monday. Another $700 billion in investments vanished, according to The Associated Press.

How do investors on Main Street protect themselves? The Times Union gathered a panel of experts to talk about what consumers should be doing with their savings, investment and retirement accounts in the wake of this week’s turmoil on Wall Street. Our panel included Hugh Johnson, chairman and CEO of Albany-based Johnson Illington Advisors LLC, assisted by Abigail Doolittle, the firm’s director of business development; Lynn Wright Barnes, owner of Wright & Barnes Investments in Schenectady; Bill Losey, a certified financial planner who heads his own advisory firm in Wilton; and Kathleen Godfrey, president of Godfrey Financial Associates in Latham. Their responses have been edited and condensed.

The Women in Insurance and Financial Services has picked a local businesswoman as its next national president.

Kathleen Godfrey, owner of Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. of Latham, will assume the position of president at the association’s conference in San Antonio, Texas, this week. The conference runs from Oct. 22-24.

Godfrey started the business 15 years ago after her husband died.

“It’s hard enough to survive in the financial industry as a female,” she said, “but operating independently without the support of a parent company made it lonely at times as well.”

Godfrey said she found support early in her career by attending a WIFS meeting and has been helped over the years by WIFS mentors.

“Now I’m in a position to help other professional women nationwide in achieving their dreams,” she said.

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“I consider life the ultimate road trip, and financial planning is akin to map-making.”

For Kathleen Godfrey, owner of Godfrey Financial Associates, owning a financial firm in a traditionally male-dominated business is satisfying. It’s also her way of adapting to change.

“I find that my gender has become more and more an asset in this industry. Many people, particularly women, want to work with someone who can relate to them as people first, and not just an account within a large financial organization.”

Godfrey, 50, came from Buffalo in 1980 to attend UAlbany. With a graduate degree in finance and management, she worked for more than 81/2 years as a senior budget analyst for the state.

She wasn’t prepared for what happened next: She suddenly became a widow raising her two daughters alone. Then she was laid off from her state career in 1995.

What she did, she said, is reflected in these Bob Dylan lyrics: “And you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone. For the times they are a-changin’.”

So, she started her own company.