Two words: don't panic.

Looking at the recent turbulence on Wall Street, your IRA or 401(k) accounts have probably taken some lumps. What looked like a comfortable nest egg a couple of years ago may now be one oil price hike or inflation scare away from Ramen noodles at the Bingo hall. You might be thinking that it's time to get out of the stock market before the next crash!

But don't move so fast. Time heals all wounds, and you wouldn't want to miss out on the rebounds off rock-bottom lows.

Storm clouds ahead, Captain

If you're already retired, or very close to hanging up your corporate cleats, stock market swings can be very scary. The Dow Jones index takes on a new importance when your monthly income comes from a stock portfolio.

But selling a stock or mutual fund after its price drops precipitously, and then sitting on a safe, unexciting savings account instead, is like stepping out of your car in a traffic jam and walking to work instead. Once the jam clears, you'll miss that car. And you'll also miss the assets if you sold them at a terrible price, before they got back into healthy growth mode again.

The stock market tends to recover from crashes quicker than you might think and, in the long run, staying in the market is nearly guaranteed to grow your wealth. Sure, the infamous Black Monday of 1987 hurt if you needed your invested assets right away. But only 15 months later, the Dow had recovered from its largest one-day fall ever to an index value of 2,256. Two years after that, the Dow reached 3,000, and moved on to 11,400 before the end of the 1990s. Moving to all cash in 1989 would have been a huge mistake.

Ship shape

It's important to get your portfolio in shape for the golden years so that you can get through those short-term dips without losing too much sleep. The closer to retirement you get, the more you need to invest in interest-bearing bonds and dividend-paying blue chip stocks. Unless you're Warren Buffett, you probably shouldn't aim for growth stocks in your 60s and beyond.

Market crashes make dividend stocks look beautiful. Dozens of true blue chips have increased their dividends every year for at least 30 years, through tech bubbles and Black Mondays, good times and bad. They keep sending you money even if the stock price is drifting. Why sell the goose that lays golden eggs, unless the company is headed for bankruptcy?

You may need to ride through a short-term storm or two by staying at work for a couple of years longer, tapping into your home equity with a second mortgage or cash-out refinancing, or trimming your monthly expenses for a while so that you can sock away a few extra dollars in the retirement savings account. All of those options are better than selling stocks in a panic when the market turns sour. Your nest egg is safe, as long as you sit on it.