Need to look at a liability matching portfolio construction.
For retirement (or near) need at minimum 5 years of basic expenses in some sort of bond ladder. Using TIPS or something similar. Some more conservative investors will build out a 10 year ladder.
Only money in excess of meeting basic expenses across that timeframe.... Or for money beyond that 5/10 year runway.... should be in equities
Yeah, I'm not a finance wizard, such as yourself. I always envisioned sort of a three bucket approach. Bucket 1 would be three years worth of cash/fixed income, like CD ladders or whatever makes sense at any time. Bucket 2 would be 5 years worth of...something...like bonds I guess. Then bucket 3 is equities. Rebalance the buckets based on market conditions. Bucket 2 is what I've struggled with knowing how to handle. I've never really known how to properly invest in bonds, and obviously I need to figure that out.