I sometimes seem to be better at knowing what to do than I am at doing it. This is a common human foible, one that costs even the smartest among us money. Though there is no such thing as easy money, re-allocating investments in your portfolio is the next best thing. It just takes fighting human nature, that tendency we all have toward complacency. Here's how.

Momentum investors, who trade on the theory that high-performing stocks continue to soar for a period of time, have a lot in common with big wave surfers. Both often incur high costs in search of riding the "big wave," and both have a greater chance of wiping out when the wave gets the best of them.

Emerging markets are known to be risky, and the situation in Egypt drives the point home. Upheaval in the Middle East demonstrates political risk, one of the major dangers of emerging markets. Another danger? Investment advisers who downplay those risks for their own interests.

Many financial advisors ignore tax efficiency when investing, and their clients end up paying more taxes than they should. Last week, I addressed the importance of investing the right types of securities in tax-advantaged savings accounts. In the second of my two-part series on minimizing taxes, we’ll look at investing in taxable accounts.