“The inevitability of declines is undeniable—our job is to prepare clients for that inevitability,” he says. “Back in July, we told clients in a newsletter to be prepared for a 10 percent decline. That does not make us prescient.”

The current situation is not an indication of a weakness in the system. “This is a technical, not a fundamental, problem,” he says.

At Hartford Funds, John Diehl, senior vice president of strategic markets, says his first indicator of the upcoming correction was investor sentiment.

“There’s been a general anxiety with the market having as long of a run as it has,” Diehl says. “It’s human nature. We were overdue for something.”

There is no reason to fear the system is broken, adds Charles Schwab Investment Management’s Omar Aguilar, CIO of equities. “The U.S. economy is stable and resilient and the recent increase in volatility seems to be exaggerated.”

Although emerging markets, and in particular China, “will continue to face headwinds driven by low commodity prices, increased currency volatility and overall slowdown of local economies, we expect developed markets to stabilize, supported by aggressive monetary policy in Europe and Japan,” Aguilar says.

At Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, Adam began to hedge in advance of the correction.

“In the portfolios we manage, we had already raised some cash,” Adam says. “We have also favored developed markets versus emerging market equities, because the time to invest in emerging markets more aggressively is when those economies are expanding, not contracting, versus developed market economies.”

The time is right to buy, Adam adds, but managers should be selective.

“The message should be that the equity markets have fallen, but don’t panic,” Adam says. “If you wanted to increase your allocations all along, now is a good opportunity to put your money to work if you have at least a 12-month time horizon. We like U.S. equities, European equities and Japanese equities with a currency-hedged basis, because I think the dollar will continue its long-term trend of strengthening.”