[jedberg]

In the 2002/2003 recession I shifted all my investments to REITs. That worked out pretty well, and when those topped out I shifted everything to VTI (total market index) and rode that up to the top.

But basically you want to be in investments that are easy to liquidate and will generally hold steady, so that when the bottom comes and goes and we're out of the recession you can quickly shift to growth vehicles again.