The middle of a period of market fluctuation is rarely the best time to adopt new investing strategies.

However, it is the best time to review your financial plan—and act on your existing strategies to uncover any existing opportunities or benefits.

Here Are Three Actions to Take During a Volatile Market:

1. Consider Your Long-term Goals

Rule number one: don’t panic! Extreme loss aversion (or “panic selling”) is a common behavior after a significant market decline. However, it’s important to take a step back and weigh your current financial situation against your long-term goals. Although no one can predict the future for certain based on past performance, the chart below shows that investors who remained committed to their long-term financial goals and stayed invested in the face of short-term market turbulence in the past often had better outcomes.

Read more on staying disciplined during market downturns or about the psychology of investment behaviors in our special report series here.

2. Rebalance Your Portfolio

Rebalancing a portfolio helps reduce its overall volatility. Look at both how long it’s been since you last rebalanced it, as well as how far it may have drifted from your target allocation. For example, let’s say your existing strategy is to rebalance your portfolio if your allocation is more than 5% away from your target percentage. A major market event could trigger that rebalancing act and effectively have you selling the over-performing assets in your portfolio and repurchasing what’s lost in value at the time when it’s down.

3. Review Your Current Level of Cash or Short-Term Reserves

If you’ve been nervous about the markets, it’s easy to allow your cash reserves to remain uninvested. Following a major market event, it may be worth re-evaluating whether you have too much of your portfolio sitting on the sidelines in cash or equivalents. Consider putting that cash to work, perhaps in a single lump sum investment or continuing a disciplined dollar cost- averaging strategy.

Regardless of what’s happening in the markets, your best strategy is to follow the strategy put forth in your financial plan. If you don’t have an active financial plan—one that’s been updated at least within the past 24 months—now is the perfect time to contact your Financial Advisor to create or update your plan. You’ll be focusing on what you can control, with a clear path forward, while the market stabilizes.