"Let's make an investment pie to your taste." When it's your turn to pass on the highway, do you floor it or hang back for a second? Risk pops up every day, but no more so than in the investment world. How much risk you can stand may depend on your personality, age, length of time to invest, job security, health, net worth, and cash set aside for emergencies. You need to be sure the amount of risk in your portfolio makes sense for you.

Aggressive growth and international/global asset classes tend to be riskiest. What percent of your portfolio is devoted to these? Are you comfortable with this much risk?

Time horizon affects risk. When you have decades to invest, your funds have the opportunity to bounce back after a downturn. Not so if you're nearing your goal. How soon before you need your funds? If 10 or fewer years, you may want to step down your investment risk.

Strong investment performance can unbalance your account and expose you to risk, too. Gordon will explain.

"Here's how an out-of-shape account can hurt you." Let's say you made investment choices two years ago, with 60% allocated to aggressive-growth stocks, 10% to growth & income, 15% to income, and 15% to stability of principal. Your stocks did well, so today (with increases), 80% of your account is now allocated to stock. We call this an unbalanced account. Take a look.