A stock market crash is a blow for any investor, but it can be devastating if you’re a retiree. You depend on your nest egg to support your standard of living and your net worth has just taken a big hit. What do you do now?

Your first step should be to assess the damage. Opening your brokerage statements will create a sinking feeling in your stomach, but facing the music will make you feel better in the long run. If your net worth is still ample, you can breathe a sigh of relief. If your portfolio has shrunk to the point where it no longer meets your needs, you can begin planning what to do about it. Here are some possibilities.

Update your financial plan — or get one. If you’re uncertain about your financial situation, it’s time for your financial adviser to prove his or her value. Get your adviser to update your financial plan to reflect the new reality. Don’t have a financial adviser or your broker doesn’t do plans? Consider getting a fee-for-service financial planner to prepare one. While a good plan won’t come cheap, the peace of mind you might get from it could prove invaluable.

Stop the bleeding. If your plan comes up short, don’t panic. It’s probably not as bad as you think. Categorize your expenses into basic needs (the must-haves) and discretionary expenses (the nice-to-haves). If you find that your portfolio covers your must-haves but not all your nice-to-haves, that’s discomforting but not disastrous. “It relieves anxiety to be able to say ‘Maybe it’s not quite the lifestyle I want, but I am going to be OK’,” says Karin Mizgala, a financial planner and educator with the Women’s Financial Learning Centre in Vancouver.

If there is a gap between your income and your expenses, clamp down on your spending until you have a chance to think through the situation. You might be surprised how much difference a few economies can make. Tony Mahabir, a financial adviser with Canfin Financial Group in Oakville, Ont., points to the example of two of his clients, a Mississauga, Ont., couple in their early 60s who were about to retire with just enough money to cover their spending needs. The recent crash slashed the value of their holdings and created a $600-a-month gap between their needs and their means, says Mahabir. The couple discovered they can cut $300 a month by reducing restaurant meals, gifts and vacations, as well saving insurance on a second car by parking it in their garage for the time being. They’ll see if markets recover before making longer-term changes.

If the gap between your needs and your means can’t be easily resolved, start rethinking how you live. You’re likely to find that many nice-to-haves, and maybe even some of your must-haves, aren’t so necessary after all. Mizgala gets new clients to fill out a questionnaire, which includes questions about what they would like to do if money was no object. Surprisingly, most of the answers turn out to be non-material things, such as volunteering, and taking courses in art and music. “Maybe this is a chance to focus less on the material,” she says. You can save thousands of dollars a year by selling a second car. You can also take cheaper vacations, cut back on golf, curb gifts, and have family dinners at home instead of at a restaurant. Chances are that these economies will affect your happiness less than you think.

Work part-time. If you’re still relatively young and healthy, consider finding part-time work that you also enjoy. Use those earnings to help pay the bills until your portfolio has time to recover.

Part-time work provides benefits, such as social contacts and stimulation, that go beyond money, says Wayne Taylor, a financial planner with Taylor Financial Group in Edmonton. “You shouldn’t sit around and be a couch potato,” he says. To keep active, Taylor’s retiree clients work at a huge range of jobs: developing training programs for financial advisers, driving empty trailer units between Edmonton and Ft. McMurray, serving customers at a home renovation store, selling cars, and working at a greenhouse.

Even a bit of part-time work can make a big difference. Teresa Black Hughes of Solguard Financial Ltd./PEAK Securities Inc. in Vancouver has been advising a couple in their mid-60s who made a poor investment in a small business. They had been planning to work part-time for three years in retirement to help rebuild their finances. As a result of the recent crash, they will need to keep working an additional one to two years to get their finances back on track. That will be a chore, but it is not a huge penalty to pay for suffering through a major stock market crash.

Practice patience. Most portfolios aim for some long-term balance between stocks and fixed-income investments such as bonds and GICs. For example, some retirees choose a 50-50 asset allocation — in other words, half stocks and half fixed income. But the market crash is likely to have knocked this careful balance awry. Since stock prices have been hammered, your holdings of stocks will proably make up a far smaller part of your portfolio than before.