Unless you are 150% certain that every company in the world will seize up and stop working as the planet grinds to a halt, then you need to be out there researching, running, and adding to your portfolio when the miseries hit the institutional investors.

The institutionals are big companies like mutual and hedge funds. They need to get liquid, have cash on hand, for a variety of reasons, none less than their investors might lose confidence and head for the exits.

You can benefit from this. Often they have to sell quality assets at prices at which they would rather not part with them. They move a ton of shares into the market compared to you and me.

The result is that there is a buyer's market. More shares out there than can be swooped up. So stocks in some companies that are not only quite sound, but paying killer dividends, get caught up in the dip as they're unloaded in either profit taking or stop-loss sales.

Right now, the pipeline companies, which continue to do well, are taking that kind of hit.  Kinder-Morgan Partners (KMP) their management company Kinder Morgan Management (KMR) and Trans Canada Pipelines, to name a few, are all in good buying range on these dips.

Likewise, Frontline Ltd (FRO) the tanker company which is still doing well despite the pull-back puts out a monster cash dividend as there isn't a whole lot else that they can do with the money.

Other good ideas are any large commodity driven company that pays a dividend. You aren't just waiting for the growth, you're being paid while you wait, and usually at rates that meet or exceed what you can get tying up your money in a money market or CD, although having a little in those is probably advisable as a safety net.

Altria, the tobacco company, has just found its way into value territory.  Johnson & Johnson, if you can get it at the right price, is another staple company that produces.

It can seem scary when the wave is coming your way, but this is like surfing. You paddle into the wave, ride it to the top, and come back again.  Anyone who waits to start paddling too late into the wave usually gets wiped out.

Cowabunga!