Just Say No to Abuse Declaring War on Terrorism. Finance, Personal , Investments , Saving and investment Probably the most important investment decision investors can make is determining their asset allocation. Asset allocations is the mixture of stocks, bonds, CDs, money market funds and realestate that one has in their investment portfolio. I tend toward the theory that your house is not an investment though many in expensive areas can consider home equity an investment if they plan to sell their home and move to a lower cost area when they decide to retire.
Allocation is the mixture between different investment classes.
These investments produce income and have little interest rate risk due to their short term maturities. Long term maturities are more speculative where you put your principal at risk from changes in the interest rates. The equity class includes common stock and stock mutual funds. Equities are further broken down into categories of US vs. foreign as well as large, midsized and small capitalization stocks. These people charge you a straight fee and do not sell you anything.