The market meltdown and your 401(k)

If you own a mutual fund, or maybe you have some mutual funds in your 401(k), here's how the financial meldown could be impacting your investments.

1) Know your exposure

Here are some of the biggest mutual funds - by net assets according to Morningstar.com: American Funds Growth of America (AGTHX), Pimco Total Return (PTTRX), Vanguard Total Return Stock Market Index (VTSMX), Vanguard 500 Index (VFINX), American Funds Euro Pacific (AEPGX).

You may not own Lehman or AIG or Merrill Lynch stock - but it may be a larger part of your portfolio than you think. In fact, five out of the ten largest mutual funds own Bank of America and Citigroup. And four out of ten own AIG.

Consider this, if the top ten largest mutual funds were mushed together, almost 14 percent of that porfolio would be in financial services.

2) Brace yourself

The losses on most of the top ten funds is significant. American Funds Euro Pacific (AEPGX) is down 21.60 percent year-to-date and Fidelity's Contrafund is down 16.28 percent. Other funds in the top ten are down double-digits across the board. In comparison, the Dow and the S&P 500 are both down about 18 percent this year.

3) Check your allocation

You don't want to panic and pull your money out of the market right now. Instead, go to Morningstar.com and take a look at your asset allocation using the instant X-ray tool. The best way to insulate yourself from a market meltdown is to make sure you are diversified. That means, don't load up on a specific industry - instead, look at a mix of different investments from foreign stocks to bonds and large-cap stocks.

For more of Gerri's Top Tips, watch CNN weekdays at 10:15 am Eastern Time.