It was heavily weighted in stocks, so much so that he feared a sudden, sharp downturn might derail his retirement plans. So Harry decided to make a change. He would move most of his government retirement account money out of stock and into bonds. I was amazed at how hard it was, psychologically, to make the move. The success of the stock market has gone a long way toward creating that environment.
People act as if good returns are a foregone conclusion, as if stock market investing is a lock.
With that mindset, any type of switch away from stocks is viewed as a loss. That means owning a bond with, say, a 5 percent return feels like a bad move, because the money would have brought in bigger returns elsewhere. It doesn't matter that stock market returns hardly are guaranteed. Just pulling the money out from the realm of bigger profits can make an investor feel like a loser. That also drives a lot of people to let money ride, even when it may be in their best interests to pull back.