A new survey from Charles Schwab & Co. says that the Enron debacle has made most investors think twice about the way they invest.

In fact, 72% admit they have changed their investment behavior as a direct result of Enron news. According to the survey, the top five ways investors have changed their behavior are: avoiding companies they don’t understand; doing more research; diversifying; paying more attention to financial advisors; and simply worrying more.

The Schwab survey also revealed that 34% of respondents don’t know which companies constitute the largest stock holdings of their mutual funds. Another 35% have only “a general idea,” and just 21% are “very clear.” It also found that 33% of investors are less confident now than they were a year ago in their ability to choose investments that will perform well over time.

“One of Enron’s most painful lessons is the danger of overconcentration in an individual stock – just as the tech wreck of 2000 taught us we shouldn’t be too heavily concentrated in particular industry sectors,” said Carrie Schwab Pomerantz, vice president/consumer education of Charles Schwab & Co. “Yet it seems investors may still not appreciate how diversification across and within asset classes can help protect a portfolio against worst-case scenarios.”

The survey was conducted by telephone February 7-11, 2002, interviewing 620 adults who reported they have a 401(k) plan at work. The margin of error for this survey is +/- four percentage points.