Leave your money alone
Founder, chairman and chief investment officer, Westwood Management
Randy Root, who runs our trust arm, told me about 20 years ago to rebalance my 401(k) only once a year. It's simple, but it's saved me lots of heartache. I was a portfolio manager for other people, but I hadn't done any kind of remotely professional job with my own money.
Randy said, "Why don't you treat yourself as well as you treat your clients?" Now we make an annual appointment, rebalance, and then I don't look at my 401(k). I don't worry about it when it struggles, and leaving it alone and keeping it diversified has helped it grow nicely, even though we've had some pretty awful periods.
NEXT: Be frugal but not stingy
Last updated July 22 2008: 11:27 AM ET
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