Worried about economic uncertainties this summer? If you don’t want fears of a market correction to ruin your vacation, there are a few ways you can tune up your portfolio and mitigate risks.

Kash Pashootan, senior vice president and portfolio manager at First Avenue Advisory, Raymond James, offers a few tips for investors who are currently assessing their portfolios and want to be cautious amid the current low-rate environment. While he sees upside in the long term, Pashootan said the current short-term risk and outlook for rewards is the worst since the year before the financial crisis.

Here are Pashootan’s three key tips on how investors can tune up their portfolios this summer:

Put some cash on the side

As equities continue their rise to all-time highs, Pashootan said investors who want to benefit from the rally but worry about a correction should consider setting some cash aside.

“If there was a 10, 50 per cent correction tomorrow, I don’t think anyone would be surprised,” Pashootan told BNN on Thursday. “The way to capture the best of both worlds is to have some cash on the side and so when you do have those corrections, you can buy into the market.”

Pashootan said buying a quality name at a discount and see it rise to fair market value is a fair way to make money in a low-growth environment. His portfolio is currently 7.5 per cent cash, but he said he’s looking into beefing that up in the coming weeks ahead of the U.S. election.

Don't buy the index

Pashootan said the current environment doesn’t encourage broad-market investing, as individual stock valuations tend to steer away from those of the overall sectors during late stages of economic recovery.

“For example, if you look at a name like McDonald’s or YUM Brands in the restaurant space they’re trading at 20 to 30 times, where if you’re cherry-picking stocks, you can buy a name like Dine Equity Trading at 13,” he said. “You don’t get that in the broad market.”

He said some of the most defensive sectors in the markets today, such as utilities, are “out of whack” in terms of valuation.

Review your financial plan

Depending on when you created your portfolio, Pashootan said investors should check to see if they made assumptions that don’t apply in today’s low-growth environment.

“Whether you’re working towards retirement or you’re retired already, it’s very important to sit down with your advisor and take a look at that financial plan and potentially adjust some of the assumptions that were made in a higher growth environment than the one we’re in today,” he said.