We've been seeing a lot of questions from people about whether they should take their money out of stock investments and put it into cash. If you haven't done so already, it's really too late. The time to move money into cash to protect your principal was last year when the DOW was in the range of 13,900 and the S&P was 1,500. Some people who try to time the market did call that right. But the reality is that few people can accurately time the market.

The big mistake you will make if you sell your stock portfolio now and convert it to cash is the classic mistake of many investors -- you will have bought high and sold low. Unless you do need the cash now (and you shouldn't have been in the stock market if you do), then you'll have to bite this bullet and sell. But, if you are someone who doesn't need the cash now ride this market out.

Generally I recommend to people that they balance their portfolio with these four principles in mind:

1. Any funds that you will need in the next two years should be held in cash or cash equivalents (such as money market funds, CDs)

Well the Boomers are crying now. Market is down, 401k's are shrinking, and dreams of early retirement fading. The mad bull market that had us believe it would go up forever has faltered. The gains were so exciting it was easy to lose sight of the real goals and priorities. Financial accumulation became a mission rather than a means to an end.

I know, I know, what about retirement. Well what about it? Personally I don't believe in retirement, I believe in working. Work and activity are the measures of physical and mental health. Ideally, you are passionate about the work you do and it gives your life meaning. We are the only country in the world that has this ridiculous viewpoint of a magical age where we are not longer suppose to work. And WE didn't have it before the advent of social security. After all, the word retire was only used twice in the Bible, and in both cases as a punishment.

A study by two university professors has found that those who are reckless behind the wheel of a car are more likely to be reckless when investing their money. Strangely enough, they found a correlation between speeding tickets and risky investing activity, reported in their study "Sensation Seeking, Overconfidence and Trading Activity."

The professors compared Helsinki databases of speeding tickets issued in the late 1990s and early 2000s, to databases on investment portfolios and trading records. With some funky math, the professors were able to determine the correlation between speeding tickets and investment portfolio turnover.

They found that an investor's portfolio turnover rate rose 11% after each speeding ticket received. They also found that as an investor got older, their speeding tickets decreased and their risky trading activity also decreased.

The professors think that the correlation between speeding tickets and risky trading activity has to do with overconfidence. A risky driver thinks he can avoid being caught, and therefore he may also believe he can do an exceptional job picking stocks. So all you speeders beware: You're probably playing a little fast and loose with your investments too. Take more time and look at your investments carefully before heading off into the land of high risk stocks.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.