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If you're tempted to pull money out of the market, first consider what you would do with the funds, said Sara Stanich, a Montauk, New York-based certified financial planner and founder of Cultivating Wealth. "For a concrete goal such as a major purchase, it could make sense to pull from investments and set aside the funds needed," Stanich said. "For a long-term goal such as retirement, the portfolio probably needs to last a long time, and a portion should be invested for the long term." Let's be a little more specific about "short-term" and "long-term." Scott Weiss, a CFP at Weiss Financial Group in Mahopac, New York, said he's recommending that clients who need to meet a financial goal within the next 12 months go to cash. And generally, he said, his rule of thumb is that "any money needed within a five-year time frame should not be invested in risk assets." Ideally, you have a diversified portfolio blended between stocks and forms of fixed income, like cash and bonds, that allow you to live on the latter until the former recovers from the coronavirus' impact on the market.

However, Weiss said, "if the money was invested and will be needed to purchase a house in six months, I would recommend moving into cash now." If even with the recent market volatility, you're fortunate enough to have enough in an investment account to cover an approaching goal, it can make sense to step back from stocks, said Alex Doll, a CFP at Akron, Ohio-based Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services. "If a client has a goal of, say, retirement and they know they need $1 million and they currently have $1 million, then it absolutely would make sense to get more conservative," Doll said. That's what Ken Moraif, a North Dallas, Texas-based CFP at Retirement Planners of America, did last month for his clients, all of whom are near or in retirement.

For us, the biggest mistake is losing money, not missing out on the gains we could have made. Ken Moraif CFP at Retirement Planners of America

"We sold all of our equities," Moraif said, adding that he's moved clients' money into government bond money market funds. "We still believe there's a lot of downside now. "We want to protect our clients from that," he added. "For us, the biggest mistake is losing money, not missing out on the gains we could have made." Yet if you don't have enough saved to meet an upcoming goal, you might have to stay invested, Doll said. Another option, if you can't put off a goal but don't have enough money in your investment account now, is to rethink what you could still do, experts say. Maybe you should look at a public school for your child instead of a private one, for example, or maybe you don't need as big a house as you might have wanted.