EL PASO, Texas -- The final bell sounded Wednesday on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones dropping nearly 450 points on the heels of trouble with Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, and AIG.

"I think it's not as good as it should be, it's very bad," said Terry Bell from Central El Paso.

"This is not the time to panic," said UTEP professor of finance Oscar Varela. "I am not calling this a crash, but we have seen crashes take place before, and we have seen that the economy has recovered."

Varela said it would be a bad idea to take your money out of the stock market or mutual funds, and especially your retirement plans.

"Normally speaking, people who panic, and withdraw funds from those kinds of accounts, when you are looking at long term returns, and long term investments, will end up suffering the losses," Varela told KFOX.

Plus, El Paso's economy remains relatively strong.

"El Paso has certainly bucked the trend nationally with respect to the effects of economic downturns and also unemployment rates," said Varela.

Borderland residents agree that the best thing to do is stay the course.

"Leave it where it is, and do not cash out," said Josh Wilbanks from West El Paso.

"Just keep on doing what you're doing, you know, it's like driving in a traffic jam, when you start changing lanes, it's when you start having problems and falling behind," said Powell Searls from Deming, New Mexico.

If you have some sort of plan or insurance with AIG, Varela said you shouldn't be too concerned, considering the federal government gave AIG an $85 billion loan to stay afloat.