Stock Market

several months ago, i listened to a financial guru on NPR talking about what you and i, the little people, can do to achieve success in the market. he was rattling of ways to diversify: 15% here, 30% there...i about went off the road trying to write it all down. luckily they posted it online and i 'll paste it at the bottom for your review.

yesterday i decided to log onto my 401k page and move stuff around, as per this guys suggestions. i moved money out of my company's stock and into an International Equity Fund, as well as some Bonds. this morning i logged back on to verify the change had gone into affect and noticed i had lost several hundred dollars. what the??

turns out i chose to mess with my stocks on the biggest losing day since 9/11/01. what timing! it may work to my advantage, if things rebound quickly. that's a big IF.

diversify!!!

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* Domestic Equity (30 percent): Refers to stocks in U.S.-based companies listed on U.S. exchanges.

* Emerging Market Equity (5 percent): Refers to stocks from emerging markets around the world, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China.

* Foreign Developed Equity (15 percent): Refers to stocks listed on major foreign markets in developed countries, such as the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Japan.

* Real Estate Investment Trusts (20 percent): Refers to stocks of companies that invest directly in real estate through ownership of property.

* U.S. Treasury Notes and Bonds (15 percent): These are fixed-interest U.S. government debt securities that mature in more than one year. Notes and bonds pay interest semi-annually. The income is only taxed at the federal level.

* U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protection Securities, or TIPS (15 percent): These are special types of Treasury notes that offer protection from inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index. They pay interest every six months and the principal when the security matures.
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