Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif., Retirement Planner Column.

By Steve Butler, Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

May 25--Traumatized mutual fund investors who have long since stopped opening their statements would do well to take a peek at recent account balances. It is heartening to see what is turning out to be a reasonably robust year so far for stocks.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up about 6 percent since the beginning of the year, and the Nasdaq composite index is up 17 percent. Something called "Thestreet.com" is up 34 percent. Americans invested $14 billion in the market in April. As Martha Stewart would say, "This is a good thing."

"The market rises on a wall of worry." This elegant expression …