What are your top tips to help people handle volatility on the sharemarket?

Dust off your golf clubs. Take a chill pill. Close down your internet trading screen. Let go of your mouse.

Grab your boy, a footy and head to a park. Get down on the floor with your daughter and find out what she and Barbie have been doing.

“Sir, calmly step away from your iPhone. Put it down, sir. Don’t aggravate the situation by looking at Bloomberg. You and your family will be safe, if you just … put down … the phone.”

The best way to handle market volatility is to ignore the daily noise. If your mood was determined by the most recent market move, you’d be constantly flipping between euphoria and suicidal thoughts.

It’s a bit like the “opening of the ark” scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. “Marion, don’t look at it! Shut your eyes, Marion!” Or get vapourised like the Nazis.

There aren’t enough pills in the world to stop your ticker having that heart attack.

Next, understand the four investment asset classes and their volatility. From low volatility to high, they are cash, bonds, property and shares.

Shares are volatile. That’s “the truth”. If, like Jack Nicholson said, “You can’t handle the truth”, then shares might not be for you.

Balance and diversification. Shares should be just one part of your investment portfolio. The more you fear volatility, the larger should be your holdings of cash and fixed interest.

For the typical “balanced” investor, about half of your investments should be in domestic and foreign shares. Some will be less, some more.

Bruce Brammall is the author of Debt Man Walking (www.debtman.com.au) and principal adviser with Castellan Financial Consulting.