Here's a money paradox to ponder: If you never worry about money, you probably should, but if you always worry about money, you probably have nothing to worry about.

Most of us can use a little fretting now and then. It keeps our minds sharp, our goals focused, and our savings accounts healthy. But some people worry way too much, even when there's plenty of money in the bank. Do you:

● save enough to meet your goals, but still feel that it's not enough?

● lack specific savings goals and just try to save everything you can?

● get so anxious thinking about retirement or paying for college that you can't evaluate whether you've saved enough?

● avoid all debt, even a mortgage, because you don't want to owe anyone money, ever?

● fight with your spouse, family, or others because they never save as much as you want?

With the stock market as bouncy as a beat-up couch, you may be thinking it's time to focus on a small number of stocks that you know really well. What better way to keep returns up and risk down?

Conventional wisdom and new academic research certainly seem to suggest that this is the way to go. Many financial planners and brokers will tell you that a portfolio of as few as 12 stocks (and up to 30) will sufficiently diversify your holdings.

And three recent studies have found that individuals who own fewer stocks do better than those who own many.

However, as is often the case with conventional wisdom (and academic research), there's a lot more to the story. Fact is, if you build your portfolio entirely on the principle of "less is more," you're a lot more likely to end up with less than more. Here's why and what to do instead.

Those were the days

The idea that 12 to 30 stocks are all you need dates back at least to the 1960s, when academics, including Burton Malkiel, author of the classic "A Random Walk Down Wall Street," concluded that that's what it took to eliminate most of the risk from a portfolio. (They

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks pared their losses to trade flat Friday as some investors appeared to view weaker-than-expected economic readings as offering Federal Reserve policymakers further justification for cutting interest rates next week.

Stocks initially fell sharply following a government report that August retail sales excluding automobiles declined. The report suggested consumers held off spending in the face of turmoil in the financial markets, an unwelcome development that some on Wall Street are hoping could be reversed by a rate cut. Fed policy makers meet Tuesday.

"Everyone expects the Fed to cut. I guess one of our concerns is the feeling the market has that either the Fed or the government can legislate prosperity," said Denis Amato, chief investment officer at Ancora Advisors. "The Fed can sometimes dampen volatility but they can't create prosperity by pumping money into the system. At some point they have to let some of these excesses play out," he said, referring to trouble in the housing market and tighter access to credit.

The rebound in stocks came alongside a partial recovery in Europe. Markets overseas had fallen, at times sharply, after the Bank of England approved emergency funding for lender Northern Rock PLC to head off a possible liquidity crisis. Northern Rock issued a profit warning and blamed the shortfall on credit market turmoil.

In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 10.89, or 0.08 percent, to 13,413.99.

Broader stock indicators likewise showed little movement. The Standard & Poor's 500 index slipped 2.16, or 0.15 percent, to 1,481.79, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 3.59, or 0.14 percent, falling to 2,597.47.

Bond prices slipped after spiking higher earlier in the session when stocks had fallen. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 4.50 percent from 4.48 percent late Thursday.

BEIJING (AP) -- China raised interest rates Friday for the fifth time this year amid signs that repeated attempts to cool the sizzling economy so far have had little effect.

The interest rate on a one-year loan will rise by 0.27 percent, to 7.29 percent, as of Saturday, the Central Bank said. Rates paid on bank deposits also will rise by a similar margin, to 3.87 percent.

A rate hike was widely expected after the government said this week that inflation rose to an 11-year high of 6.5 percent in August, driven by a surge in politically sensitive food prices.

"China is ratcheting up the pace of its monetary tightening," Jing Ulrich, chairwoman of China equities for JP Morgan, said in a report to clients.

"We expect at least one more rate increase in the next six months," Ulrich said. "Inflation risks are on the rise in China, sparked by structural changes in the demand-supply situation for foodstuffs, as well as excess liquidity on the back of the widening trade surplus."

Chinese leaders want to maintain high growth to reduce poverty but worry that the current boom, fueled by exports and investment, could push inflation to dangerous levels or ignite a financial crisis.

The economy has powered ahead despite repeated rate hikes, investment curbs and measures to shrink credit, as well as global worries about the U.S. economy.

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Oil prices fell Friday amid profit-taking after closing at a record high the previous session on supply concerns.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery lost 29 cents to $79.80 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Singapore.

The contract finished Thursday at a record $80.09 a barrel, up 18 cents, and above the previous record close of $79.91 set a day earlier.

Analysts say much of the recent advance in crude prices has been due to buying by large investment funds. The relative weakness of the dollar, which encourages buying by foreign investors, has also played a role.

Oil first traded over $80 a barrel Wednesday after the U.S. Energy Department reported declines in crude and gasoline inventories and a drop in refinery activity, but it ended that session below the psychologically important mark.

"Had that large drop (in crude inventories) occurred on its own, people might have been skeptical about whether that number is real or is