The Conventional Wisdom

(CBS)  This column was written by CBS News Early Show Co-Anchor Harry Smith.

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Conventional wisdom.

For months now, the stock gurus, the experts who are supposed to know what people should do with their investments and 401Ks have been saying over and over again.

Don't panic. Whatever you do, don't panic.

I haven't been panicking. Honest. Suffering yes, in agony, absolutely; but, no sir not me, no panic here friends.

The markets, we have been assured, always come back. Look at what happened after the crash in 1987. It came back. After 9/11 it came back.

It was a year ago today that the Dow set its all time high. Investing in the market and mutual funds seemed to make plenty of sense back then. A little less so now.

The conventional wisdom was the market could make your money grow. And grow it did. But, boy has it shrunk.

Now I wonder if tax free bonds and municipals would have been a better way to go. Certainly safer. No thrills. No spills.

Just think of the smug factor had you done the really safe thing, instead of what everyone else was doing.