MAIN ST. SHRUGS OFF MARKET DIVE

In 1998, small investors learned to appreciate a Wall Street adage: To invest is to choose between eating well and sleeping well. And despite the great bear’s growling and gnashing of teeth in August and again in October, many investors steeled their nerves and went for the champagne and caviar.

“By and large the so-called little guy remained calm,” says James M. Weiss, deputy head of equities at State Street Research in Boston. “That tells me most people are taking more of a long-term consistent approach with regard to equities.”

The Mutual Fund Education Alliance, a Kansas City-based trade group for no-load mutual funds, polled 2,108 people and found that 70% haven’t changed their investment strategies since August, a month when the stock market took a one-day 512-point “dip.” Only 2.5% of respondents redeemed funds because of market turmoil.

That’s not to say investors were oblivious to the market’s gyrations. On days the market dropped precipitously, many fund companies reported a jump in calls from shareholders. Others noticed more dough pouring into that old haven, money-market funds.