[Fern]

One thing I've always been confused about, and never see the issue addressed in financial news media.

When they talk about having various asset allocations for your investments depending on your personal risk tolerance, goals, etc., assuming your goal is retirement for both taxable and non taxable savings, should you treat your taxable and retirement (IRA/401k etc) monies as a single entity (eg, 40% bonds for taxable AND non-taxable and 60% stocks for taxable AND non-taxable monies) OR develop individual asset allocation formulas for each?

Put another way, if, for example, I know i want 40% bonds/60% equities in my investments, should i figure it based on retirement monies and taxable accounts each separately or together as a single unit? Hope i'm clear in what i'm asking, and may seem like a simplistic question, but i have different mutual funds for each category.