There's reason not to worry about the Dow being down — but don't check your portfolio right now

Everyone knows the advice during turbulent times like this: Whatever you do, don’t check your portfolio. But it’s just so hard not to look, which is why Matthew Murawski, a financial advisor at Encino-based Goodstein Wealth Management has been getting a lot of nervous calls from clients.

“They’re worried about whether this is going to be another 2008 type of crisis,” said Murawski.

Murawski tells them it’s not, and this is a much better time to buy than sell.

"You don't want to sell when the market is low," Murawski said.

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He also tries to prepare clients for turbulent weeks such as this one by reminding them ahead of time that stocks can be volatile, so they should be as diversified as possible.

"They know if their portfolio has the proper allocation, they should be set-up for market swings like this," Murawski said.

Brandon Fiely, a financial consultant at Irvine-based Starcare Associates Inc., reminds clients that they should avoid focusing on day-to-day fluctuations. 

“What we are reminding people is that this a long-term endeavor,” said Fiely. “Looking out 12 months is not really the time you should be investing in if you think you need those funds during that time.” 

A better forecast for Main Street than Wall Street

David Shulman, a senior economist at the UCLA Anderson Forecast, says investors should buckle up for a tough 2016.

“Our sense is the stock market should be choppy this year because we’re in transition to a high-rate environment,” said Shulman.

In other words, the Federal Reserve is expected to continue raising interest rates. Investors don’t like that or the low oil prices. Other commodity prices have also been low, growth in China has been slowing and Shulman says uncertainty in the U.S. presidential election will also spook markets.

Shulman says the good news is he expects the overall U.S. economy to keep improving.

"We think Main Street is doing a lot better than Wall Street right now," said Shulman.