Then there's sad story of incompetence in mutual fund industry. There are hordes of inexperienced financial planners (commissioned salesmen) just waiting to sell you load funds (A and B shares), or to recommend an asset allocation approach with no real plan or strategy that will serve you in a bear market.

Of course, there's always option of having a perfectly balanced portfolio designed. Such was case when a prospective client phoned me in 1999 during height of technology boom. He felt left out because everybody was making money in one of history's great bull markets, but his portfolio was so well balanced that he was neither making nor losing anything. He would have been better off in a money market account.

To me, term balanced portfolio translates into this: I have no clue what I'm doing, where major trend is, what I should be buying or whether I should be in market in first place. I'm hedging so much that one investment goes up and another goes down.

Balance is one thing and safety is really quite another. And mutual funds do not automatically mean either safety or balance. The key is always information-knowing how to get reliable info and what it means once you have it.

This is not for everyone. If you have money to invest and you don't have time or inclination to do homework, then your smartest move is to find someone you trust. That would be someone with a track record you can verify, and someone who is not going to make money off your investment every time you buy or sell something.

People like this do exist, and good news is you only need to do your homework once. That's when you check them out. From then on, you can relax knowing you're just not likely to fall prey to any of rip-offs that are out there.

The following four items are considered by IRS as acceptable reasons for a hardship withdrawal:

* Un-reimbursed medical expenses for you, your spouse, or dependents. * Purchase of an employee’s principal residence. * Payment of college tuition and related educational costs such as room and board for next 12 months for you, your spouse, dependents, or children who are no longer dependents. * Payments necessary to prevent eviction of you from your home, or foreclosure on mortgage of your principal residence.

Hardship withdrawals are subject to income tax and, if your are not at least 59½ years of age, 10% withdrawal penalty. You do not have to pay withdrawal amount back.

For more information on this and other 401k issues, go to www.401khelpcenter.com.