Published: Monday, 4 May 2009 | 11:38 AM ET

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By: Carmen Wong Ulrich
On The Money Host

As you may know by now, I prefer the turtle over the hare and the ant over the grasshopper. So in light of the Great Recession that we’re still mired in, what’s got so many of you putting ALL your retirement savings in the market? A-L-L?

From 20-somethings (who may have a point) to 60-somethings, dozens of you have called and emailed your portfolios, surprising me and my trusty CFPs at the desk. If you’ve sustained losses from 40 to 50 percent and you look at what’s in your nest egg and it’s all Wall St. related, well, that’s what’s rotting.

I’ll tell you what stopped my portfolio from completely going down the tubes with the market: cash.

I keep 20 percent of my retirement savings/investments in a cash equivalent (money market). When I hit 45 years of age (ahem), I’ll start shifting slowly but surely to 40 percent cash by the time I’m 65.

The market will not always go up. Cash works like toddler-floaties when the market goes down, especially fast. It keeps your chin just above water. So even as many of us get encouraged by the market’s recent Miracle-Gro climb up, protect yourself just enough on the road to retirement. This too shall pass but remember, may we all be blessed enough to live through several more recessions because history says they’ll a’come.

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