THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH TAKING SOME CASH OFF THE TABLE

When I was younger, my brothers and I used to meet for dinner at our mother's house on Friday nights.  We'd have a great home cooked meal and a nice visit and afterwards we'd have our Friday night poker game.  We never played for big money, it was more about visiting and having a good time.  But every time we played, if I won a hand, I would take half of the winnings and put it in my pocket and continue playing with the rest of the money.  When the money on the table ran out, I'd drop out of the game.  Taking money off the play table ensured that I never had a poker night that was a total loss.

It's the same when it comes to investing.  There is never anything wrong with taking some of your cash off the table.  In my case, I don't sell any stock, I just divert dividend payments to cash.  Of course I keep the cash in an FDIC insured interest bearing account, so it continues to work and earn more money, but it's no longer subject to the gyrations of a sometimes volatile stock market.  I don't do this because I need the money, I leave the cash in my investment account.  However, when the stock market is dropping, having a sizable chunk of cash in your account is a great stabilizer.  And when things start to look up again, you can always put that cash to good use buying in while stock prices are still low.