Your Pocketbook - Some advisers are encouraging people to take 10 or 20 percent out of their stocks and put it in an interest-bearing savings account. What do you think?

Some advisers are encouraging people to take 10 or 20 percent out of their stocks and put it in an interest-bearing savings account. What do you think?

Tim Hanson, senior analyst at the Motley Fool: That depends on when you need the money. If this is cash that you've had in the stock market but that you need to pay your bills over the next 12 to 36 months, then yes, put it in a savings account or in something like TIPS. You need to make sure it's there when you need it. (Incidentally, that money should never have been in the stock market in the first place.)

But if this is money you're saving for a retirement that's five or more years away, then I would keep it in the stock market and take advantage of current volatility to upgrade your portfolio. That means adding new money to the market and reallocating your portfolio into the best-priced, strongest names.

By washingtonpost.com Editor | October 8, 2008; 7:00 AM ET
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These advisors will be pounding on the same tired drum until all of your net worth is gone. Has anyone stopped to consider the possibility that our nation's long post-WWII economic boom may have finally come to an end? In which case, past performance will be no indicator of future gains. What happened to the NASDAQ eight years ago could easily happen to the broader market as well. In which case you would all be a lot better off building up your savings instead of gambling it away. Remember that every single one of these "financial advisors" is down on his knees every night, praying that his cushy job of skimming money off your retirement savings isn't going to disappear.

Posted by: Steve | October 21, 2008 11:28 AM

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