TIAA-Cref has several different areas, i.e. Stock Market, Bonds (don't go there!), Real Estate, Guaranteed. The Stocks and Bonds have some other categories, too, i.e. international mix , an ecology-geared one where they invest in companies with ecology-minded policies (it does pretty well!).

I create the mix of what % of my bi-weekly amount goes into each pile. Beyond that, the "pile" managers buy and sell. A lot of stocks will be held but they regularly buy and sell, too.

One day my investment portfolio is worth xxxxxx dollars. When the stock market takes a tumble, my portfolio does, too. The base upon which it has to build is less. I made back everything plus a little bit from the 2001 disaster but it took a long time. I haven't got that many years before I retire so every time it tumbles now, it costs me in real future dollars. My portfolio mix is quite conservative. I'm too near retirement to take risks. If I were younger, I might. But the risk-takers really got fried.

I have no say over what individual stocks and/or bonds they invest in. I like it that way. Otherwise, I'd have to constantly study the markets and all the companies that trade there and get back into economics. I wouldn't do it halfway. I'd become "expert" and I have no interest in doing that, thankoo veddy much. I thought I was pretty dumb when it came to all this stuff, but at my last TIAA-Cref one-on-one counseling session, I was informed that my level is considered well-informed and above the amateur status of most people with TIAA-Cref portfolios.

Something I like about my TIAA-Cref. Their counselors are paid by TIAA-Cref and make zero, zilch on me. They get no %'s of anything. They are salaried people and you can trust they won't mislead you. But you have to use your own judgment, too. I disagreed with my last counselor's advice and left my funds mix the same rather than moving more into international. Looking at the results, I was right. So you still got to know a little bit about what you're doing.