What are you doing with your retirement savings plan? New research from Money magazine show a pretty even split down the middle, with about 50% of investors going to the sidelines and 50% staying in the game.

Clark only analyzes his holdings on a quarterly basis. He doesn't react to every movement of the Dow. After all, the Dow is only a measure of 30 stocks. If you want to look at one indicator, try the S&P 500. At least that monitors 500 publicly traded companies.

So, yes, Clark has lost money, but he's not changing anything. He has a plan and goal that he's sticking to -- instead of making an emotional decision. Historically, stocks recover before an economy does because stocks are a forward-looking indicator.

On the flip side, a nice little run-up does not mean the coast is clear. Investors talk about the "dead cat bouncing," which means that anything looks like it is on the way up if it falls from high enough. That's why Clark recommends dollar-cost averaging, which is a clever little term for putting money in steady as you go. It's like buying distressed merchandise.

Clark contributes automatically through his payroll, plus he has a separate investment account where he puts his money in on the 17th of each month. Before you go thinking 17 is the magic number, that's actually just an arbitrary day that he uses!

Human nature being what it is, we have a tendency to buy high and sell low. Try to resist that impulse when you hear the drumbeat of negative news. Half of you are with Clark and half of you are not, according to the Money stats. Think 2 or 3 times before bailing out completely.