Since the bull rally will fizzle at some point, it's always good to have a fallback. Utilities fit that bill. Although these companies were firmly in the bottom tier last year, they could rebound if the market runs into trouble.
Consider an ETF such as the iShares U.S. Utilities, which holds blue chips such as Duke Energy Corp, Dominion Resources and Exelon Corp. The fund returned almost 15 percent last year and yields about 3 percent with a 0.46 percent annual expense ratio.
Feeling skittish about picking a lackluster U.S. sector and hoping it rebounds? A wiser choice would be to spread your portfolio among every sector through a broad-based world stock fund such as the iShares MSCI ACWI Index ETF, which holds the biggest stocks from around the world such as Apple, Nestle SA and General Electric Co. The fund rose 22 percent last year and charges 0.34 percent for annual expenses.