The stock market has been all over the place in recent months. Rising food and oil prices, the sub-prime mortgage and banking mess, job losses and the falling dollar have all contributed to a less-than-rosy outlook on both Wall Street and Main Street. With stock market analysts now declaring an official Bear Market, many investors are wondering what is going to happen with their portfolios, where to put their money now and if they will ever see 13,000 Dow again.

According to Erick Ormsby, president of San Ramon-based Alcosta Capital Management, this continued market volatility is normal and to be expected. "The stock market is just as prone to the laws of gravity as anything else. Nothing goes up forever." The important thing, he says, is to stay calm in the midst of bad news. "When investors see losses in the market, the universal reaction is to panic," Ormsby says. "But we believe the volatility in the market, and specifically the nail-biting drops we've been seeing recently, are only temporary. Sure, in times like these it's difficult for investors to remember that wealth is built not by trying to time the market - which is almost always an impossible feat - but by time in the market."

Ormsby offers these tips:

Look at your time horizon. "If you've got 10 years before you want to pull money out of the market then, most likely, you should stay the course," Ormsby says. Investors with three years or less before they need to pull money out of the market would be wise to stick with more stable investment vehicles like money markets, bonds and CDs.

Take a deep breath. "It's hard for investors not to look at their portfolios every day and see their account values going down," he says, "but take a deep breath and remember that your investments should be a long-term proposition. Just because your portfolio value is down this month, doesn't mean that it won't be up over the long run."

Watch for undervalued gems. Investors should remember that there are always hidden gems. Ormsby points to the fact that his investment portfolio, the Alcosta Growth Composite*, is performing well in spite of all the gloom and doom. Net of expenses, the Alcosta Growth Composite is up 4.98% (annualized weighted return: June 30, 2007 - June 30, 2008)**. Compare that 4.98% positive return, for same time period, to the Russell 1000 Growth Index (down 5.96%) and the S&P 500 (down 13.12%). Alcosta's Growth Composite, which was created January 1, 2003, outpaced the S&P 500 and the Russell 1000 Growth Index, not just 6/30/07 - 6/30/08, but also for the annualized period going back five years***.

Invest sidelined money now. "Times of uncertainty are also times of opportunity," Ormsby says. "Especially in market downturns, people with cash on the sidelines should consider investing in beaten up and undervalued stocks. You want to be properly positioned when the market becomes strong again."

* The Alcosta Growth Composite consists of a representative segment of the adviser's separately managed accounts for its growth strategy. The inclusion of all such accounts would not materially change the results.

** The performance information provided herein is historic and should not be taken as any indication of future performance. Among other things, growth of assets under management of the adviser may adversely affect its investment performance. Also, future investments will be made under different economic conditions and may be made in different securities using different investment strategies.

*** The comparison of the Alcosta Growth Composite's performance to a single market index is imperfect because its portfolios may contain different securities and are not as diversified as the Russell 1000 Growth Composite or other indices. Due to the differences between the adviser's investment strategy and the methodology used to compute most indices, the adviser cautions potential investors that no indices are directly comparable to the results of the Composite.