Hi Lesley!
We here are Mustachians, a term derived from Mr. Money Mustache (
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/) a man who retired in his 30s because he had invested enough money to live off his investments the rest of his life.
As such, we embrace living below our means, utterly enjoy what we have, find pleasure in things that necessarily don't cost (much) money, and invest as much as we can in order to gain financial independence. Our investment strategy is very simple. We don't gamble, we don't try to beat the market, we are simply riding the wave which ultimately gets bigger and bigger due to compound interest.
Many of us, and I'm one of them, have invested in individual stocks. We got lucky, we lost money. But in the end, it is impossible to outsmart the super computers and the big wall street giants. In fact, even most of those cannot beat the market in the long run. Warren Buffet made a $1 million bet a bit over a decade ago with a bunch of super fund managers that they would not be able to outsmart the market. He put $1M in a single, very low cost, Vanguard index fund, VOO. It holds all of the S&P 500s companies. He won that bet.
Even Warren Buffet himself (and I own stock in Berkshire Hathaway), was not able to beat the market the past few years. He furthermore said that for the overwhelming majority of investors, investing in a super low cost index fund or mutual fund (same thing) is the way to go.
Since January 2019, the S&P has gained over 25%!
https://www.macrotrends.net/2490/sp-500-ytd-performance So how can one lose money if making money by doing nothing gets one 25% gains?
Answer: only by gambling. By trying to outsmart the market. And that's a very bad strategy.
There are folks among us who have most of their money in a single mutual fund, VTSAX, or its ETF equivalent, VTI. We put the money in, and never look back. We don't sell, because we want to live off that investment. We only add to the stack. It can get a bit more difficult by diversifying, but I don't want to confuse you.
I suggest you talk with your husband and give us detailed information what he has invested in, his cost basis, and current status, and why you are so worried to lose it all.
Better yet, do a case study. None of us are gamblers. We are very conservative when it comes to money, and I think there are some really experienced and knowledgeable folks here who may be able to get you on the right track.