On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 504 points, or 4.4%, its worst performance since the post-terrorist attack sell-off of Sept. 17, 2001.

The seven-year plunge stemmed from several big events that hit the markets at once: Lehman Brothers (LEH, Fortune 500) filed the biggest bankruptcy in history, Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) said it would buy Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) and AIG's (AIG, Fortune 500) stock took a dive over its cash-raising troubles.

In response to a report from The Wall Street Journal, the finance firm Barclays (BCS) said it was considering a purchase of some Lehman assets.

I try to do all I can to help the economy but one woman cannot save the world. It's time to revisit my stock polfolio.