Since I earned my Bachelor’s degree, I have experienced many -10 percent “corrections” in the S&P 500. I’ve also seen many more drops that seemed somewhat scary at the time but did not reach that -10 percent threshold. 2017 was one of only two years since I entered the work force in 1989 in which there was not at least one drop of 5 percent or more during the year. My entire working career has been one characterized by a steady supply of faux crises.

The media attention to these events has been consistent. First are reports that the recent drop is the beginning of a massive decline or at least a bear market.  If the start of the drop is sudden, reports often take on a tone of shock and devastation. We saw some of this with Dow’s 1,000+ point drop to kick off this most recent correction.

Next come the rash of stories about what to do now that the market has changed so significantly. Proponents of active management and alternative investments get lots of play here.

Then come the voices of long-term prudence. Most financial planners would be in this category. Don’t panic. This is normal. Selling is a mistake.

“Don’t panic” is sound advice but delivered the wrong way, it can also induce stress. If the advisor is saying don’t panic, there must be something bad happening, the thinking goes.  Our company’s motto is “A sanctuary from the noise” so we are careful not to fill clients’ inboxes with breathless analysis of the news of the day.

Accordingly, we addressed the market’s activity during our regularly scheduled communication in mid-February. No special email blasts. If we want them to take volatility in stride, we believe we should model that behavior ourselves.

In addition to the many relatively minor downturns, my career also covered two pretty nasty periods, the dot-bomb bust and the 2008 financial crisis. Both took many months to reach bottom. Some clients were panicky. The 2008 crisis was particularly tough because it was harder to understand. Internet stocks cratering in the early 2000s made some sense, but in 2008 most people had no clue about mark-to-market accounting or whether what the Fed was doing to intervene had any chance of success.

Worse though were the many “advisors” that were also panicked, and recommended clients make radical changes to their portfolios.  A panicked advisor is the last thing a client needs in tough times and many cracked under the pressure.

There is a saying in coaching, “Pressure is something you feel when you are not prepared.” That’s why practice is so important. Given the rush to tell clients not to panic, it seems like advisors are worried their clients will panic.  That makes me wonder whether advisors have done a good job of preparing clients for downturns. Whether this correction portends the next bear market or not, the bear will growl again.

“This is normal, don’t worry about it” is reasonable advice, but if that message isn’t delivered with some nuance, I think it could contribute to making clients more prone to panic. The last several downturns haven’t lasted very long. It was easy to stick with a plan.

It’s a mistake to say, “This is normal, don’t worry about it” as though this particular correction won’t become something much worse. No one knows that for certain. Imply this correction will be a mere blip, and have it turn out otherwise, the anxiety level is likely going to be high. That implication turns what should be good advice to stay grounded into potentially dangerous advice.

A client can easily think, “My advisor recommended staying the course because this drop was no big deal but it is. Why should I think he’ll be right this time?”

A better approach is first to be crystal clear that no one truly knows if this will get worse but historically the unknowability of the future has not been a problem if a good plan is in place.

If your clients must avoid bear markets to succeed, they have bad plans. A good plan expects bear markets precisely because they happen so often and are difficult to predict with enough precision to make moving in or out more profitable over time.

If your clients were panicky with the Dow off 1,000, consider this a wakeup call. Is how you are managing expectations demonstrating to clients the realities of investment markets? There is no better time than now for clients to become realists.

So both “Don’t panic” and “This is normal” are reasonable things to say but can also be problematic. So is the advice “Don’t sell”.  In fact, in some cases, selling is wise. I’ll give you one common example.

I work with a lot of retirees. In many cases, because they have remained investors and not succumbed to the temptation to become speculators, many have the largest portfolio balances they have ever had in their lives. Further, even many that have been drawing on their assets since before the Great Recession have no fear of exhausting their nest eggs. Their accounts have done well, they are a decade older, and they have discipline around their spending.

They survived the last really nasty market in 2008-2009. Today, they can say to themselves that if that should happen again, now, they know they can make good decisions and get through it.

Here’s the thing: The knowledge that they can navigate another period in which stocks get cut in half is comforting, but I am encouraging many of them to reconsider if they really want to experience that again. Some of them are going to decide they don’t need that kind of excitement in their lives.

As I write this the “bottom” of this recent correction was on February 8^th with the Dow at 23,860 or about where it was at the end of November. If any of these financially secure clients had asked me to reduce their exposure to equities on February 8th, my inclination would have been to help them decide how much to reduce not whether it was a good idea.

Of course, they would be better off selling before the correction but trimming things so that they can sleep better is not a mistake, as long as they still have a plan that works. It’s the difference between proactive risk control and reactive panic control. It’s the difference between a market-oriented advisor and a client-centric financial planner.

In early February, with headlines translating the market’s drop into trillions of lost value, it would be easy to become concerned when one’s financial standing was still sound. If this recent correction doesn’t trigger a reassessment, it is probably only a matter of time before another one does.

Now is a great time to see if clients are still in touch with the “why” of their plan. They’ll need that reference point when the bear returns if not sooner. Understanding how their portfolio is constructed to support those goals and manage the inevitable trade offs allows them to recommit to their plans and can help them stay grounded.

It is easy to stick with a plan when all is going well and markets only seem to blip. But, the bear is coming. Now is the time to make sure your clients and their plans are prepared for it.

Dan Moisand, CFP, has been featured as one of America’s top independent financial advisors by Financial Planning, Financial Advisor, Investment Advisor, Investment News, Journal of Financial Planning, Accounting Today, Research, Wealth Manager, and Worth magazines. He practices in Melbourne, Fla. You can reach him at www.moisandfitzgerald.com.