Smarter Money: You Had Your Little Run-Up in Tech, Now Pull Some Back

We have now climbed a huge amount from when I said that it was too late to sell and that some tech can be bought. I now think that things have gotten a little pricey in tech, seeing that stocks like

CMGI

(CMGI)

and

Internet Capital Group

(ICGE)

and a couple of other ne'er-do-wells have worked their way back.

It is time again, for those of you who are running all of your money with the tech mutual funds, to take some money from those funds and put them in something more diversified.

Last time we were at this level I was preaching diversification. We then fell so much that it was too late to diversify. Now we have had such a run that it is time to do a little pruning.

Here is what I would do. If I had all my money in the most-aggressive tech funds, I would use this strength to take some of that off the table. If I had all my money in tech stocks, I would use this strength to take some off and rebuild into other stocks.

Yes, I am bullish. Yes, I think that the markets will go higher. But I am not backing away from my belief that you have to be more diversified. Those of you who were lugging nothing but funds from

First Hand

and

Janus

and

Putnam OTC Growth

and

Strong Growth

have been given a new lease on life. Take some from these guys and give it to those who are more deserving, those who have held their own and done well.

And if you have nothing but

Dell

(DELL) - Get Report

and

Gateway

(GTW)

and

Sun

(SUNW) - Get Report

, take some off. If you have nothing but

Cisco

(CSCO) - Get Report

and

PMC-Sierra

(PMCS)

and

Applied Micro Circuits

(AMCC)

, you have had a great move. There is nothing wrong with selling some and repositioning into some lower-risk stuff. Remember, when I was at the old shop, I only told you what I was doing, I never told you what I thought you should do. For many of you,

what

wasn't good enough. That's why I am being very clear:

I like the market.

I don't want you overweighted in tech.

I don't hate tech; I just want to own other stocks besides just tech.

Somehow I know some of you will misinterpret these very easy points. But most will get it. Is this a trading call? NO, IT IS A PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT CALL. It is prudence speaking. Prudence trumps everything. We learned that last year. Don't lets unlearn it this year.

James J. Cramer is a director and co-founder of TheStreet.com. He contributes daily market commentary for TheStreet.com's sites and serves as an adviser to the company's CEO. Outside contributing columnists for TheStreet.com and RealMoney.com, including Cramer, may, from time to time, write about stocks in which they have a position. In such cases, appropriate disclosure is made. While he cannot provide personalized investment advice or recommendations, he invites you to send comments on his column to

jjcletters@thestreet.com.