4 Don'ts for Investors During a Correction

It's finally here.

The stock market correction that we've all been fearing and anticipating. We haven't seen a 10% correction since 2011. In addition, we haven't seen a bear market since 2008-2009's credit crisis.

I'm sure you're wondering just how long it will last, and how bad will it be? Unfortunately, I don't have those answers.

It's also a really easy time to make some devastating mistakes.

As an investor, here's what you don't want to do:

1. Don't panic. No need in freaking out at this point, right? It's already happened, and we knew it was going to eventually show up like that annoying relative at your doorstep. Have the courage to ride it out. If you can't stomach it, then you probably need to find good bank.

2. Don't fixate on the news. I see so many investors that start to watch the financial news every waking moment when we start to have a correction. The more you check your investments and listen to the media, the more volatile it will appear -- further fueling your internal panic buttons.

3. Don't focus on the correction. Corrections are supposed to happen fairly frequently. To be honest, it really won't matter in the long run. It's only a small blip in an investors long-term plan. The short-term isn't important. Try to stay focused on the future outlook of the economy and the markets.

4. Don't think you or anyone else knows what's going to happen. Let's face it nobody knows what's going to happen next. Those are all just educated guesses. The biggest mouths are usually the ones that know the least. Stick with tried and true ways to cope with market volatility.

This too shall pass. There's no sense in making a stock market correction worse by emotional and fear-based decisions. Have the courage to leave your investments to do their job.

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