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#6 Avoid holding investment real estate. Wait for lower prices. If you consider your home a consumption item (like a car), and you wish to keep it on that basis, fine.

#7 Cash out your whole life insurance and use term insurance instead. Insurance companies will be hard-pressed to honor the value of whole life policies when their property and stock investments fall.

#8 Consider a portfolio of short or hedged stocks, managed by an expert. For its short product, Lang Asset Management Inc. (Atlanta, 404-256-4100) selects medium-to-large-cap stocks that look overpriced and shorts them, staying reasonably fully invested. Bob Lang, president, says he looks to build a diversified portfolio of balanced shorts. Lang’s hedged product gives the manager more latitude under varying market conditions. $100,000 minimum investment. You select the broker you want or Lang will recommend one. The average return for all of Lang’s short portfolios for 2000 was 28.65%. Find Lang on the Web at www.langasset.com or email them at rlang@langasset.com. Mention EWI and receive Bob Prechter’s At The Crest of the Tidal Wave at 50% off. Other money managers to consider are Skye Investment Advisors LLC (Los Gatos, CA, 408-339-9200) and Kynikos Associates (New York, 212-292-5800).

#9 Well-heeled investors ($500k-plus) have an interesting option. Whittacat Consulting has set up a market-neutral strategy designed to make 25%-plus annually regardless of market direction. The idea is to split your portfolio between two managers, one of them focusing on choosing longs, the other on choosing shorts. The market direction will be neutralized by the stronger performance of the side the market favors. If you have a market bias, you can tilt the group by adding an extra manager on the long or short side. All three biases (long, short and neutral) achieved 25%-plus returns for 2000 against an S&P performance of –10%. The biggest year for the two-manager mix was 1990 (up over 100%). For info, contact Asset Allocation Consultants, Ltd. (P.O. Box 747, Bracebridge, Ontario P1L1T9, 800-638-5760 or 416-762-2330, or fax 416-762-3793. Website: www.assetallocating.com).

#10 Look for the chance to buy “leaps,” i.e., long-term puts, near the top of each major rally. #11 If you wish to place $200,000 or more in the very safest institutions in the world outside the U.S., we suggest that you contact an outside expert in the field: Imogen Collis, President, SafeWealth Services [Switzerland] S.A. World Trade Center, CP 476, 1000 Lausanne - 30 Grey, Switzerland; +[41]-21-641-1640, fax -1390. (From the U.S., dial 011 first). Email i.collis@safewealthservices.ch.