Robert Brokamp

And this week, I encourage you to do something that I encourage everyone to do every January.

And that is to think about what you'll need from your portfolio in the next three to five years and protect that money by moving it to cash or bonds.

On average, the stock market drops 20% or more every four years.

And in the first decade of the century, it dropped more than 50% twice.

Since 1928, the stock market has been profitable over 83% of three-year holding periods, 88% of five-year holding periods, and 94% of 10-year periods.

So we think protecting money you need the next three to five years is a reasonable goal, but you should always adjust for your own risk tolerance and circumstances.

So if you plan to make a big purchase soon or maybe send a high schooler to college or create or restuff your retirement income cushion, now's a good time to move that money from stocks to higher yielding cash, CDs, treasury bills, or short-term bonds.

To find higher yielding banking options, visit the other Motley Fool Money, not the podcast, but the Motley Fool website that rates and reviews credit cards, mortgages, brokers, and banks.

And that, my friends, is the show.

Thanks for listening.

And thanks, as always, to Bart Shannon, who is a magician and the engineer for this episode.

As always, people on the program may have interests in the stocks they talk about, and The Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against.

So don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear.

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I'm Robert Brokamp.

Wool on, everybody.

So soon be time to review and perhaps rebalance your portfolio.

But how should you do it?