Lynn Ballou, an investment adviser and also an ambassador for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, said investors inadvertently increased their risk by being swayed by people who had little knowledge of their portfolio….

The market crash of 2008 has instilled a fear of being overly concentrated with any one manager or firm. But spreading out everything among different people is not the solution, either.

"We think about the best fund managers and do a pretty good job at the beginning of finding them," Ms. Ballou said. "But we don't stay on top of them. And then, it's, 'I just read my famous fund manager retired or got indicted — what do I do now?' "

She said more people should think about who is managing their portfolios the way they would think about a garden: after spending time planting beautiful flowers, they don't let it go without pruning and weeding. Read more >

New York Times
Paul Sullivan
August 5, 2011