When the economy and the stock market head down, investors often favor companies in traditionally defensive sectors, blue chip stocks, reliable dividend stocks, gold, real estate and money market funds.

ETFs are closed-end mutual funds, whose shares trade on a stock exchange. ETFs are invested in a basket of securities. These can include all asset classes, from conservative to high risk, currencies, commodities, local or global.

A recession is the best time to invest because the prices of assets are lower. Stocks markets pull prices down, real estate slows down to favor buyers and small businesses come available.

The central bank is the institution in a country, or a region (like the European Union), that manages the money supply, currency and interest rates. It changes interest rates to affect liquidity.