It's sad but true - millions of investors are losing money, even in well-diversified portfolios, because virtually all investors are exposed to the energy sector in one way or another. Exxon-Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are two of the most commonly-owned energy names in all of the stock market and despite numerous efforts to keep premium pricing, the drop in oil prices has all energy names declining.

Eventually I will go into greater detail onto what near-term ideas are best in a low-price market for oil, but for now I will say what all the talking heads on TV won't say until they get definitive proof in the near-term: oil prices WILL return to over $100 per barrel, but it will not happen anytime soon.

There are many who think it will be years, maybe even decades before oil will break above its recent 11-year low of around $34 per barrel. In the meantime, it is important to know that if you have oil names in your portfolio now, it is not the end of the world: what goes down, will go up again, and this is always the case with a commodity as volatile as oil.

That being said, I still don't believe that oil has hit a definitive bottom yet so I do not recommend buying any energy stocks quite yet. Stay tuned and be vigilant for new ideas soon! In the meantime, the economy will get a decent boost from money savings on oil and in turn prices will be a little cheaper on certain consumer goods from food to airline tickets.

And in the off chance that you were living under a rock over the last few weeks, here is a chart of the performance of oil prices since the early 1990s...pretty crazy stuff.