<prompt> Human: So my company is awesome enough to match every dollar contribution with fifty-cents. So right off the bat we are all making a 50 return on our investments. Sounds great right?!Well in the past the company that handled it allowed us to allocate to cash. I allocated 100 of my portfolio to cash. I was fine with the 50 return and thought, why risk that money? Why get greedy and need more than a 50 return? Well everyone else at the company decided to put in stocks and so forth. Jokes on them when the market dips. Anywho.. my company transferred our 401k management to a new group. This new group told me that I cannot allocate to cash. So I chose bonds as I think this is the closest thing to cash. 1. Is it legal for them to not allow cash allocation? 2. Are bonds a safe bet?3. Should I be worried about the bond market going bear? Please assist. Thank you. Assistant: Invest it. The joke wasnt on them when the market dipped. The joke was on you when the market recovered and kept going up. Even if they invested in 2007 when the market was at 14,000 and lost 50 of it over the next year, its since recovered and is now at 17,000. Imagine if youd bought at 7,000.Unless youre nearing retirement and need less volatile investments, stay away from bonds for the most part.Human: But, wont the joke be on them when it dips, sometime in the future, and I then reallocate into stocks for the recovery? I started my 401k five years ago, so I missed the last recovery..  <response>: Just two years ago the market was up 30! Timing the market does not work. The joke is on you for not investing at all and just losing value to inflation every year.You will never be able to figure out when to buy in for the recovery. The only surefire way to succeed in investing is to invest early and often, ideally on a set schedule with all of you availableinvestable funds as quickly as possible. 