Even though the markets have been chugging along, higher and higher there have been more and more moments where individual stocks, or sectors have experienced some increased volatility. For the most part you may have experienced a portfolio that is slowly moving ahead but what do you do when you see your overall P&L moving back and forth more than your used to?
The first thing you probably should tell yourself is to be patient. If you are a long term investor then a quick look at the financial media and you can see whether this is a temporary, profit taking" move or if there is some real concern by the markets. Remind yourself that you have seen this before and you will very likely see it again, os just be patient.
The second thing you can do is look at this as a "glass half full" sort of scenario. You may choose to reduce some of your positions or position size in attempt to relieve some of the volatility, but also to possibly add back at cheaper prices. While many long term investors do not care for market timing, in this case you are slowing the volatility, but also putting yourself in a position to re-load at a discount.
Finally, you may have an exit strategy in mind. Did you have a target profit for the individual positions in your portfolio? Most likely you did. Now think through what happens if your target was 25% but currently you are at 18%. Are you going to hold and potentially give up all 18%? Usually investors will, at some point decide that they will lock in some level of profit. Maybe in this example you lock in 10%. So the stock can have moments of increased volatility and you can remain in the stock confidently knowing you will keep 10% no matter what.
Many new investors have never seen real volatility, and at the moment there is no reason to think they will, but that doesn't mean we cant have volatile days, or weeks. Have a plan and prepare ahead of those events and you will do just fine.