What not to buy in a bear market

These days, advisers are eagerly hawking what worked the last time stocks tanked. Hold on to your wallet.

"Look at how well these investments performed during the 2000-02 bear market!" This is the line I've been hearing from mutual fund companies and other investment providers trying to sell me on the superiority of their products (and get me to put clients into them).

That means I'm being pitched the standouts of the past bear market, including small-cap and value funds, real estate and metals and mining.

From the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2002 - when U.S. stock funds lost 12% a year on average - small-cap funds dropped by 6.5% a year, and value funds fell by just 2% a year, according to Morningstar. Real estate and precious-metals funds - two groups that often do well when the stock market slumps - delivered double-digit annual gains