21 ways to stomach a sour market

Feel like you're getting nothing but lemons from the stock market? Allow us to introduce nearly two dozen recipes for lemonade.

1 of 21

1. Simplify your portfolio

• Send feedback to Money Magazine

For you, perhaps, "portfolio" seems too orderly a word. "Junk drawer" might better describe that disorderly jumble of fund and brokerage statements your future depends on. You've long wanted to streamline but were put off by the taxable gains embedded in many of your holdings.

Well, now is your chance. The market's 20% decline has shrunk many gains and probably also handed you some losses to offset against them. That makes this a great time to eliminate duplicates (you need only one S&P 500 indexer, for example), unload funds you don't understand and create a simpler portfolio.

For a model, see "The only 7 investments you'll need." Or, for the ultimate in simplicity, boil it all down to a single target-date retirement fund, essentially a lifetime investment strategy in one portfolio.

Two such funds - one from Vanguard, the other from T. Rowe Price - are on the Money 70, our list of recommended funds and ETFs.

By Money Magazine's Carolyn Bigda, Paul J. Lim and George Mannes

NEXT: Ditch your energy stocks

Last updated August 16 2008: 4:37 PM ET

Email | Print |

Digg this story |

RSS

More Money survival skills

• 18 ways to beat inflation

• The only 7 investments you need

• 4 best ways to protect your money today

More Galleries

6 great Memorial Day car deals

Here are some hot tips if you're going out car-shopping this weekend. More

10 multi-million-dollar mega-yachts

These folks definitely do not need a bigger boat. Peek inside some of the swankiest vessels on the high seas. More

Build your own eco-friendly house

Home is wherever you want it to be. This 150-square-foot home can be shipped almost anywhere and then assembled like Ikea furniture in about four days. More

Special Offer

About CNNMoney
Content
Magazines
Site Tools
Stay Connected
- My Account
- Mobile Site & Apps
- Facebook
- Twitter
- LinkedIn
- YouTube
- RSS Feeds
- Newsletters
- Tumblr

Market indexes are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer LIBOR Warning: Neither BBA Enterprises Limited, nor the BBA LIBOR Contributor Banks, nor Reuters, can be held liable for any irregularity or inaccuracy of BBA LIBOR. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2012 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer The Dow Jones Indexes^SM are proprietary to and distributed by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use. All content of the Dow Jones Indexes^SM © 2012 is proprietary to Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Chicago Mercantile Association. The market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. Most stock quote data provided by BATS.