Keep Your Cool

摘要

The pattern of last year's secu-rities prices amounted to a Ror-schach test. How you responded to month after month of blots on the investment charts revealed the nerve and knowledge of the gambler within. Did you cry or merely grumble when Mexico let the air out of the peso last week (page 00), when derivatives exploded or when Orange County's bankruptcy mau-maued the tax-exempt mutual funds? If every dip felt like death, your heart belongs to insured certificates of deposit. Thousands of savers who switched into bond-owning mutual funds started switching back after losing as little as 2 percent and should never be tempted by funds again. No one invests successfully who can't handle a year or two of nasty news. Better a low-growth investment you'll keep than a "better" one you'll flee at a loss.