Flee, or stay the financial course?

By Marcie Geffner • Bankrate.com

If you're worried about the dramatic ups and downs in the U.S. stock market, you can still count on one thing for sure: You're not alone. Plenty of people have panicked and sold off their mutual funds, raided their bank accounts or taken other ill-considered steps they may well regret later on -- or at least that's the perspective of financial planners, who unanimously advise against hasty decisions and instead advocate calm.

"You can't make good decisions when you are emotional. You have to calm down," says Frank Boucher, principal of Boucher Financial Planning Services in Reston, Va. "Sit back, take a deep breath, relax and when you are ready to deal with it without emotion, you are ready."

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