DIVERSIFICATION HAS CERTAINLY helped Michael Cuggino of the Permanent Portfolio Fund this year. His asset-allocation fund (ticker: PRPFX) is up 4.74% year-to-date, after returning more than 12% in 2007.

James Balanced of Golden Rainbow Fund, says he started to move his fund below 40% in equities in mid-2007, shifting money into cash, bonds and precious metals instead -- moves that look prescient now. The stocks he really likes at the moment include commodities-based Dow Chemical (DOW) and Dupont (DD). The fund, which has averaged an annual total return of 11.31% in the past five years, also owns safe, huge-cap companies like IBM (IBM), Hess (HES) and AT&T (T). The average P/E is 12.

Younes is avoiding cyclical stocks and wary of European shares, even though price-to-earnings multiples have dropped to about 10. He thinks this probably is a "value trap." European corporate profit margins were a healthy 6.8% in 2007, compared to a 20-year average of 3.8%. "Will earnings go down or not?" he asks. Younes believes profits have been boosted by "excessive leverage" that enabled consumers to live beyond their means. Those days are over.

The Loomis Sayles Bond Fund (LSBDX), with $17 billion in assets, is run by one of our favorite players, Dan Fuss, who's been in the business some 50 years and is a respected value hunter. The fund enjoyed a total return of 2.7% in 2001 and 13.3% in 2002, in the midst of the last recession. It has a five-year annualized return of 10.81% and enjoys a five-star rating from Morningstar. Fuss is taking an eclectic approach to the current market.

That's what qualifies Elizabeth Bramwell, who's run the Sentinel Capital Growth (BRGRX) Fund since 1994, for our roster. Sentinel tends to lag in bull markets but struts its stuff in bear runs, as it did during the recession of 2000-2002, when it preserved capital better than most of its peers. Morningstar recently named her to its roster of managers best suited to bear markets. At the end of February, a little more than 30% of Sentinel's $171 million of assets was in commodities -- helping offset this year's stock sell-off. Another 12.6% was healthcare-related, generally regarded as a defensive play.

The index has produced a five-year annualized return of 13.61%. The iShares S&P Global 100 was quoted last Thursday at $75.71, after starting the year around $80. Morningstar sees a fair market share value of just under 90. One nice perk in tight times: the expense ratio is just 0.4%.

Growth-With-Value doesn't turn over its $328 million portfolio very often, and, like Sentinel Growth, tends to underperform in speculative rallies. However, it's known to provide steady gains during turbulent times. It's returned a little more than 4.8% on a 10-year annualized basis.

A STRAIGHTFORWARD SURVIVAL strategy is just to "get out of the way of the freight train" and focus on "the world beyond North America." That's what David Winters, manager of the international equity fund Wintergreen Advisors (WGRNX), is doing. Asia, in particular, is "a really viable" place for long-term investment, says Winters. It seems to be working: The $1.8 billion fund topped its peer group in the first quarter, according to Lipper.