kerryvan, I don't think you're picking on me any more than you think I'm picking on you!

I have always used the money markets as a bond proxy. If anything's going to fluctuate, it'll be whatever the MM will pay. Using the MMs as a bond proxy allows me to have "dry powder" when opportunity knocks while offering a nice ballast when the markets stink. IOW, I use our MM to help contain the Whole Banana's potential downside risk. We do have some bond positions held in various CEFs and OEFs but it is minimized since I prefer to emphasize equity-income total return. Our cash is higher than usual right now, but I expect to invest a lot of that soon.

You are correct that the downside of owning an individual stock can be generally much, much greater than owning a mutual fund --but your "comfort zone" will depend on the stock and the actual price you paid for it. There are some types of mutual funds that I view as exponentially much riskier than owning an individual stock:  sector, asset and international. I like my sector, asset and international funds but in terms of risk? I would always first choose to buy my CHMP at 4.55 and 4.50 (as I did in Dec'07) before I would even entertain the thought of investing the same dollars in a frontier fund... but I confess that I am much more sanguine about my RYTRX Royce Total Return or my RYDVX Royce Dividend Value than my CHMP.

You made a statement about 1/3 in each but 60% in share builder, bla bla bla,  Don't you look across all your accounts/ holdings as one big account?  That all that matters, right?

Yes, I look at the Whole Banana as a whole and try to keep our various accounts, together and separate, according to my preferred asset allocation. However, after years of trying to make every account adhere to my preferred allocation, I have reached the conclusion that it ain't a-gonna happen. The "problems" are our Sharebuilder accounts and my Royce Roths. Our taxable Sharebuilder account is 100% US blue chips for buy-n-hold. That's what I've wanted from the start and that's the way it will stay. My Sharebuilder Roth is more experimental. Back in 2001, it started out as 100% sector ETFs, morphed into lab-testing my international and CEF ideas and is now in transition again. Since my Sharebuilder Roth is my incubation station, I decided to just let it go its own way. My Royce Roth assets are held roughly 1/3 in RYDVX, RYFSX and RYTRX. (Note... RYDVX is considerably more focused than RYTRX but has similar goals.) Happily, Royce now has 2 foreign funds to choose from:  RISCX and RIVFX. I am watching them for now.

It would be nice if Rick chose to learn more than the basics from me, but he has no interest in finance and investing. I am happy to say, though, that he has learned from me despite himself and does understand more than he gives himself credit for.

Regards,

Susan