Old Investing Trends Return in Style.

Byline: Gregg Fields

Sep. 23--It wasn't so long ago that stock portfolios seemed to have given America a whole new kind of freedom.

The freedom from financial worry.

Newspapers and magazines were filled with articles about 20-something billionaires, baby boomers calling its quits at 50, CEOs living like potentates courtesy of some generous stock option accounts.

Oh, how things have changed. Generation X is looking for work, the boomers may never get to retire and some of those CEOs appear headed from their big houses to the proverbial Big House.

But the events of the past year and a half show that the need to plan your financial life is greater than ever. It's true that it was hard to pick losers in 1999 and 2000. It may be even harder to pick winners today.

However, experts contend that if your goals are long term -- and in a market like this one, they'd better be -- then there's no time like the present to get planning.