You want a diversified portfolio as I am guessing you have heard time and time again. What is a diversified portfolio? You need investments (stocks, bonds, or other commodities) in different industries (i.e. technology, produce, oil, automotive, internet, ect.) To decrease market risk have at least 25 different industries represented by 1 company. Mutual Funds have 200 or so companies and some focus to heavily on one industry your best bet is to buy SPDR or a fund that follows the NASDAQ or DOW. These tend to be well diversified and you don't have to spend the time finding companies to represent all the industries.