Shakespeare’s Hamlet may have thought that “the play’s the thing,” but last week’s market action has me thinking that “The Plan’s the thing.” The Plan I am talking about here is the Fabian Plan, and last Thursday, The Plan officially went into “sell” mode. The plunging of stocks below their 200-day moving averages was the key metric that drove our Plan into sell status.

Take a look here at the chart of the S&P 500 Index. As you can see, the index plunged below its 200-day moving average (red line) last week, courtesy of the violent sell-off we witnessed on Thursday.

It was the potential for a sell-off amid this extreme velocity that’s had me so cautious about stocks for the past couple of months. Now, that selling has come to fruition. So, what does the breakdown in stocks mean for those still long in equities? I think it means that you should step aside and let this volatility play out.

There is no reason to subject your money to the ravages of what could be the next bear market. With stocks now officially in correction mode, and with the time-tested Fabian Plan now in sell mode, why tempt market fate here? I think the best course of action is to eliminate risk in your portfolio, and that means getting rid of equity holdings.

The only exceptions to this general guideline would be inverse ETFs, bond ETFs or currency funds that have benefitted from the recent flight to quality from risky assets to traditional safe-haven asset classes. Currently, my Successful Investing advisory service is recommending two such funds, both of which have seen nice moves higher, while the rest of the market licks its wounds.

To find out more about the service, and to find out how we’ve been protecting investors’ money for more than three decades with the proven -- market-beating -- Fabian Plan, then I invite you to check out Successful Investing today.