Market volatility can feel like navigating through a storm without a compass. In this article, experts including a CEOs and a Chief Investment Officer share their insights on managing personal investment portfolios. The discussion opens with the importance of maintaining a solid emergency fund and concludes with advice on taking profit and managing risk. With seven valuable tips, this Q&A provides a roadmap for investors looking to weather financial turbulence.
- Maintain a Solid Emergency Fund
- Diversify Across Different Asset Classes
- Employ a Disciplined Rebalancing Strategy
- Utilize an Active Management Approach
- Review and Adjust Risk Levels
- Minimize Volatility Through Diversification
- Take Profit and Manage Risk
Maintain a Solid Emergency Fund
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve followed during times of market uncertainty is having a solid emergency fund. I remember during a major downturn, I felt the urge to sell some of my investments to free up cash. But knowing I had a financial cushion helped me resist that temptation. That safety net allowed me to stay focused on my long-term strategy without worrying about immediate cash needs. Instead of reacting to the market’s ups and downs, I was able to let my portfolio recover naturally. An emergency fund isn’t just for short-term emergencies—it’s important for staying disciplined and sticking to your financial goals, even when the market gets volatile.
Brian Staver
CEO, NetPayAdvance
Diversify Across Different Asset Classes
Market volatility is a constant, but it doesn’t have to derail your investment strategy. My top tip? Diversification is your safety net. By spreading your investments across different asset classes—like alternatives, real estate, and traditional markets—you reduce risk and create more opportunities for steady growth. It’s not about timing the market; it’s about building resilience within your portfolio. Stay focused on the long term, and let diversification work for you!
Kelly Ann Winget
CEO / Fund Manager / Founder, Alternative Wealth Partners
Employ a Disciplined Rebalancing Strategy
Market volatility is an inherent part of investing, but it doesn’t have to derail your long-term goals. One practical tip to navigate turbulent times is to employ a disciplined rebalancing strategy. Periodically review your portfolio’s asset allocation and rebalance by trimming holdings that have grown too large and reinvesting the proceeds into underweight positions. This systematic approach forces you to buy low and sell high, aligning your portfolio with your target risk profile. Crucially, rebalancing removes the emotional element from decision-making, preventing you from making rash moves during periods of heightened volatility.
Anupreet Kaur
Content and Digital Marketing Manager, Mitt Arv
Utilize an Active Management Approach
First and foremost, as a financial professional, I have a realistic outlook regarding market risk and return. Even though long-term history indicates that the stock market is one of the most lucrative liquid investments, the short-term trajectory is highly uncertain. I do not worry too much about portfolio volatility so long as I continue to believe in the long-term success of my underlying investments.
Second, I utilize an active management approach. Active management involves adjusting a portfolio’s holdings in response to market conditions and individual investment opportunities. This approach can be powerful to both minimize risk and maximize rewards. Technically speaking, active investing is the only way to avoid market volatility (although it may be exposed to other volatilities). Active management is viewed cautiously by mainstream financial theory. This is because success depends on skill, and results from an active approach are variable and not all managers will perform consistently.
Asher Rogovy
Chief Investment Officer, Magnifina
Review and Adjust Risk Levels
Market volatility is a great way to understand where the risk is in your portfolio. It gives you the opportunity to review those positions and decide if you are comfortable with that level of risk, or if there is something you want to change. Ultimately, risk is part of investing, but one needs to decide if the volatility is justified given the return expectation.
Geetu Sharma
Founder and Investment Manager, AlphasFuture LLC
Minimize Volatility Through Diversification
Market volatility is inevitable and can be detrimental to your portfolio. The best way to navigate the market’s volatility while managing your personal investment portfolio is to minimize the overall volatility of your portfolio through diversification. The more diversified your portfolio, the more predictable your portfolio’s performance will be as well.
Dana Menard
Founder and Lead Financial Planner, Twin Cities Wealth Strategies, Inc.
Take Profit and Manage Risk
More often than not, comprehensive financial planning is about building a durable portfolio, and excessive tinkering is not necessary, and can even be counter productive. This question asks me to comment on managing my personal portfolio, which I run like a hedge fund. It is rare that it would be deemed suitable, viable, or even that a client would request that I do the same for them.
But since we are talking about my portfolio, I can confirm that I like to be active in a volatile environment. Selling cash secured puts and covered calls on top of positions that I own to generate additional yield is something that becomes attractive when something becomes overvalued or undervalued. Given the strength of the markets in 2023 and 2024, pairing profit taking activity with tax loss harvesting to minimize tax liability is another good strategy.
I also look to build positions in quality assets, like treasury bills, gold, and Bitcoin, which I see as hedges against sudden, impulsive volatility and downside risk. Importantly, the tip I would give is this: until you have realized profit, your “gains” are hypothetical in nature. Remember to take profit, manage risk, and build your long-term core positions.
Geoff Sokol
Private Wealth Advisor, GT Investment Management
