If you are upset about what's happened to your portfolio, that's in the past and we must now look forward. Here are a few lessons to help you consider what to do next.

1. Get Your "Sleep-At-Night" Allocations Right. The most important investment decision we make is what percentage of our nest egg to put into cash and bonds.

Everyone today wishes they'd put 100% of their money in cash or bonds. But bond investors shouldn't sleep as well as they think -- the protection comes at a very high price. Bonds provide the lowest rate of return and over the years. Inflation eats away a lot of the value of the monthly income. From 1925 through 2003, U.S. bonds only appreciated 5.4% per year, or 61 times, while stocks appreciated nearly 10.4% per year, or 8,000 times.

Stocks are volatile, but over long periods you get paid for the sleepless nights. You just need the time to wait out these markets. Money you need for the next five years should be in bonds or cash. The panicked sellers didn't get these allocations right. If you're 50 years old and lamenting over the equity values in your 401K, remember, you're not allowed to touch it for 10 years anyway. That's a long time!

One of Thomas Jefferson's "Ten Rules" is: "Never buy what you don't want because it is cheap." I've had plenty of $8 shirts and $3 CDs that serve as haunting reminders of this axiom. (Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch? Oh, who am I kidding ... I did want that).

But there's a time and a place for a good bargain. Finding out your local museum offers free visits. Going out to eat on weeknights to score bargain prix-fixe dinners. Taking advantage of the day-after-Thanksgiving sales, torturous though they are.

The same wisdom applies to stock trading. An investor shouldn't scoop up 100 shares of company XYZ just because its price looks like a steal (it could, after all, be cheap for a reason). But there are single-digit stocks that happen to be beckoning for a breakout or ripe for a recovery. Move in at the right time, and you could wind up with a hidden gem for a bargain price ... just like my Marky Mark CD.

In the next few days, I'll be looking at 10 stocks below the $10 threshold that look like decent plays right now. Some will be short-term opportunities; others will be better suited for those who prefer to buy and hold. Naturally, these stocks probably won't all be winners -- consider some on par with those unworn clearance-rack shirts I've long since taken to Goodwill. But for those who say sub-$10 stocks aren't worth the certificates they are printed on, you may just learn something.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.