When markets are on their bull runs, as many have been around the worldfor many years now, we all look like great investors, boasting double-digitreturns annually and looking forward to enjoying the fruits of our investing.The reality is that markets go through correction periods, and very few canpredict when these will happen, how bad they will be and how long they willlast. Market corrections can be 20% or more, and they can last for years. Whenmarkets turn, that's where intelligent investors shine and show their mettle.They prepare by having well thought-through and diversified asset allocations,and they may also take additional steps to protect their wealth, such asplacing options like puts. Think about how your portfolio might perform in sucha market correction and what you might do to soften the blow and potentiallymake some gains in the process.
