Share prices affect consumers in a more direct way than they realise, wrote Kevin Peachey of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) News.

Last Friday, Indices in Europe and Asia fell sharply as the United States' Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 508.39 points (about 5 per cent) to 9,447.11 - its lowest in five years.

From London to Shanghai, Sydney to Seoul, Riyadh to Russia, few main stock exchanges escaped the bloodbath.

Shaken by the global panic, Singapore's Straits Times Industrial Index suffered a sharp 6.6 per cent nosedive.

According to experts that BBC News spoke to, market movements affect pensions, investments and the value of homes.

The "ripple effect" of a downturn affects house prices, says Dane Halling, of Arcturus Investments.

As traders become less wealthy and less likely to buy homes, lower borrowing and less job security all act to slow down the housing market.

But we shouldn't panic, according to Jason Butler, of Bloomsbury Financial Planning.

"Unsettling as it is, the world is not going back to living in mud huts," he says.

Share-based investments will have lower values and trying to cash them out will cost money.

It is important to remember that investments can go down in value as well as up, unlike savings. This latest slump will probably affect those who are about to retire soon.