Are you getting that nervous “time to sell” twitch following news this week that the Fed intends to raise interest rates?

It would be the second rate hike in less than a year, and that gives many investors sell fever.

Take two aspirin and ignore it and it'll go away, says Elizabeth Whitlock, investment broker with Edward Jones and Company.

“One mistake investors can make is varying their strategy based on rate hikes,” says Whitlock, who works in the firm's Fayetteville office.

Interest rate increases actually help steady, long-term investors, Whitlock adds. “In the short term, it might negatively impact the market, and if you're investing in industries such as financial services that are highly sensitive to rate increase, you'll notice an impact right away,” she says.

But if your investments are sound, a temporary drop in price is nothing more than a buying opportunity, she says. “I believe in buying quality and holding for the long term,” she adds.

If you're worried about interest rates' impact on bonds, she says, then buy bonds with different maturity periods for better protection.

That way, you have money becoming available at various times to reinvest, to take advantage of the occasional fluctuation, or avoid its ill effects.

Just as real estate agents tout “location, location and location,” investment advisers urge clients to “diversify, diversify, diversify,” adds Whitlock.

“Ninety percent of a portfolio's overall performance can be tied to how well diversified it is,” she says, “not to interest rates.”

The same advice holds true for today's popular high technology stocks: buy quality companies, diversify, and hold onto those stocks for the long run, says Whitlock.

“If the price [of a stock] is being driven only by emotion and buyer fervor, then that bubble could burst,” she cautions. “Buy solid companies that have solid earnings.”

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