Stock markets have had a good run for almost 10 years, hitting all-time high after all-time high.

Nothing lasts forever, though, and at some point something will cause the market to take a real downwards turn. Maybe the recent trade war fears will pan out, or perhaps it will be something else.

Nobody can truly predict when the next bear market happens – if we could, we’d all be stupidly rich and sipping martinis on our yachts! But when the market starts to drop, it is vital you’ve prepared yourself for the worst.

Keep calm and carry on.

The first thing to be aware of is that your emotions will try to take over. Your better judgement might end up buried by fear and anxiety, which could lead to poor investment decisions like panic selling.

Nobody wants their portfolio value to drop – but it will happen.

Bear markets typically happen fast, and furiously, while bull markets tend to last for years on end. This often surprises unprepared traders, and unless you’ve set tight stop losses (which you only really should be doing on short-term trades anyway), then the most sensible thing to do is to try and stay calm and simply ride the wave of the bear market. Maybe set some low-ball buy orders that will yield great results when the market starts to turn around again.

Try to focus on the long-term. Markets have a tendency to recover to greater heights than before the bear, given enough time.

Look at the 2007-09 financial crisis – the most recent market crash to date – as an example. The FTSE 100 index dropped 29.6% in one of the worst bear markets in living memory. While this may have felt like the end of days at the time, the FTSE 100 recorded a gain of 112.6% just 5 years afterwards. Panic selling could have resulted in missing out on much greater returns.