Here's a good rule of thumb for people who care about their finances: Whenever Ben Stein talks or writes, listen. His recent interview with Fortune provides some interesting thoughts in response to reader questions. He gives a great, bare-bones, low-expense, low-maintenance portfolio that would probably do just fine for almost any investors:

What I generally recommend for the noncash portion of your portfolio - and this has been unbelievably successful - is a mix of various index funds and exchange-traded funds [ETFs], with roughly 25 percent in an S&P 500 index fund from Vanguard or Fidelity; 25 percent in a Vanguard or Fidelity total stock market fund; 25 percent in EFA, which is an ETF for developed overseas markets; 15 percent in EEM, an emerging-markets ETF; 5 percent in ICF, the ETF for real estate investment trusts; and 5 percent in XLE, which would be your energy fund.

He also said that he's not a fan of bonds, and says that if you can a return of 5% or more on your cash through a savings accounts (such as EmigrantDirect), that's the best choice.

He also had some harsh words for management-led leveraged buyouts: "Management buyouts. They're just another form of looting. There are some buyouts that are not a form of looting, but I think in general they're a form of looting the stockholder. They have to pay the stockholder less than the corporation is worth, or else the deal won't work."

Stein's ability to distill complex financial issues into everyday language and common-sense makes him one of my favorite financial commentators on the planet.