With the swings of the market this year having people go from euphoria to depression, it is likely that investors are itching to change their investments or strategies responsively, and perhaps they’ve already done so. But more action doesn’t always mean more returns.

You’ve done everything right: You’ve set a long investment horizon to ensure positive returns, and reduced your equity allocation to make room for bonds to absorb shocks in the market. So what should one do when the invested assets suddenly don’t seem to behave anymore?