re: That's deliberate.
All I know is my retirement fund has devolved considerably over the past year. It had grown nicely until 9/11 when everything tanked. By last year it had finally made up everything it had lost plus just a little more just in time to lose it again.
I don't do the investing. TIAA Cref does and there is only so much diversification available under our plan. Stocks and bonds and that's it. You can be philosophical about it if you like, but I can't. I just semi-retired.