I’ve own a few stocks and, right now, I’m sweating. If you own any stocks, even through mutual funds or retirement plans, you know the feeling. Basically every industry is feeling some pain now. As an investor, it’s pretty typical these days to be wondering if it’s time to get off the stock market roller coaster: sell, even at a loss, and put your money into something safer.

But is it really time to sell off your stocks?

The ideal way to invest in stocks is to buy low and sell high. That rule is based on the fact that stock prices fluctuate. They don’t grow steadily — if they did, the rule would be buy now, sell later. Instead, if you want to earn money as an investor, you need to ride out the low periods.

Now, we happen to be in a low period. I know you’re thinking that we’re in a particularly low period — but that doesn’t change the rules. It just means that you shouldn’t sell stocks right now if you can avoid it. A few companies are probably going to go under due to financial difficulties — if you know in advance, yes, get what’s left of your money out now (and give me a head’s up as well!). If you don’t have psychic powers, though, it’s probably best to leave your money where it is… doing otherwise would be buying high and selling low — the opposite of a good investment strategy.

Why do you want to sell?

If you’re seriously considering selling your stocks right now, I’d like you to step back, take a deep breath and ask yourself why you really want to sell. Do you actually know that something is wrong with a company you have invested in? Or have you just seen the price falling, day after day and gotten worried? I know that watching my stocks’ prices tick downwards is terrifying. Just the same, I’ve invested in fundamentally solid companies. Though their prices have dropped, there is not even a rumor of bankruptcy, layoffs or other troubles. I’ll be holding on to my stocks, even as I’m holding my breath to see how low stock prices drop.

When do you need the money?

Not all of this holds true if you need your money soon. If you were planning on cashing out of the stock market fairly soon, you may not be able to afford to wait. I encourage you to wait if you can, but we’re talking about a wait of years, not months. I know that’s not a feasible length of time for some people to wait, and if you’re among them, perhaps it would be better to get out of the stock market before anything else happens.

There’s no guarantee that the stock market will go one way or the other. I have no special insight one way or the other. All I can say is that I think that staying in the market is better than selling, at least for the moment.