It all comes down to interest rates. As an investor, all you're doing is putting up a lump-sump payment for a future cash flow.

The big question is: When will the term structure of interest rates change? That's the question to be worried about.

When growth is slower-than-expected, stocks go down. When inflation is higher-than-expected, bonds go down. When inflation is lower-than-expected, bonds go up.

What I'm trying to say is that for the average investor, what I would encourage them to do is to understand that there's inflation and growth. It can go higher and lower and to have four different portfolios essentially that make up your entire portfolio that gets you balanced.

It's sort of like a teeter-totter; when interest rates go down, prices go up.

I think that the first thing is you should have a strategic asset allocation mix that assumes that you don't know what the future is going to hold.