By Gabriel Chen

It is getting bumpy out there in investor land, and you may be wondering where to put your money now.

Asian stocks are at 10-month lows amid fears that tensions will keep escalating on the Korean peninsula.

There were reports last week that North Korea may be priming itself for combat, after South Korea officially blamed the regime for the March 26 sinking of one of its warships, which killed 46 sailors.

A Korean war is not the only downside risk to markets.

Before that, fears were festering that Europe's debt crisis could spread, and that China's real estate bubble could pop horribly and cause problems around the globe. Both these worries persist.

Another scare came when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged almost 1,000 points in less than 30 minutes earlier this month, for reasons yet to be fully explained.

The ups, as well as the downs, are also getting sharper - with the Dow often rising or falling 200 points or more in a single day.

It is natural to feel disheartened if all that volatility is wreaking havoc on your investment portfolio.

But it is important to take a long-term view and not panic and sell your stocks in a knee-jerk response to the market ripples.

'For long-term investors, they should not be reacting to the short-term volatility and be derailed from their long-term plans,' said Citibank Singapore's head of wealth management, Mr Shrikant Bhat.

'In times like these - while there can be an appropriate shift of risky assets to less risky assets - totally exiting from risky assets may not be the most advisable strategy.'

Fidelity International's managing director for Singapore and South-east Asia, Ms Madeline Ho, advised people to stay invested during these volatile times.

'If one is uncomfortable putting in a lump sum of money, regular investing is a disciplined approach and more palatable if you are uncertain about the market,' she said.

Still, the question for you, the investor, is whether this level of volatility is keeping you up at night.

If your main concern is limiting your losses and saving what cash you have, then you may want to put a lower percentage of your money into stocks and stock funds.

To be sure, you can put all your money in bank deposits just because they are very secure, but that is not wise as your purchasing power will be reduced by inflation - which exceeds bank deposit rates by a fair margin.

Experts say that a sensible combination of products with varying risk levels can provide good returns.

What are some safer investments you can choose from? The Straits Times investigates.