"The decision to balance your portfolio between stocks and bonds is a most important precursor to deciding which types of stocks to purchase. It is the stability of bonds which allows us to take the risk inherent in stocks and to achieve the superior returns which pull our portfolios up.... The recent changes in the Dow Jones Industrials do seem to indicate a changing of the guard in the economy. As of November 1, the Dow dropped Sears, Goodyear, Union Carbide and Goodrich and replaced them with Home Depot, Intel, Microsoft, and SBC Communications--a dramatic shift towards technology stocks. This managing of the index itself is an important clue to the nature of the economy we are investing in. It says quite loudly: technology stocks have taken their place in the economy and cannot be ignored."  MORE >>