by Doug West

The meltdown on Wall Street has taught us all many lessons.

“We Better Learn To Make Our Own Investment Decisions -And Not Let Brokers Make Choices For Us!”

This is a basic fact that we have been teaching for many years now. Most investors either blindly throw money at the market or let a broker do it for them. With just a little time and effort, you can learn to direct your investment accounts and retirement funds on your own.

In this article we want to point you in the right direction, and give you a few crisis tips too.

ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) are an excellent alternative to mutual funds as an investment vehicle for your retirement or other accounts.

There are ETFs that cover every sector of the market. ETFs offer many advantages over mutual funds. Here are a few:

* Tax Advantages - ETFs seldom sell any equity …

Thirty Billion Dollars is a huge amount of money, but it translates into less than $100 per US person— a small price that we should all be willing to pay to give the Automobile Industry time to restructure itself and to save a few million jobs.

Give them the green, but have them pay it back in a more economy and environment friendly manner. Here’s the deal:

Every new American-made car buyer would receive a debit card along with his ownership papers. The card could be used for anything other than the car purchase itself. Card amounts would vary from $6,000 for “smart” cars, through $3,000 for fuel-efficient sub-compacts, $1,000 for other borderline greenies.

The debit cards would lose 20% of their value per month if not negotiated. All debit cards would function as free passes for all highway tolls so long as they are used with the proper automobiles.

The 60’s gas-guzzler tax …

First, the good news: From June 2007 through September 2008 (i.e., during the credit crisis) Income CEF payouts per share were virtually unchanged. From June 2008 through September 2008, payouts rose slightly— 29 funds raised their payouts and 17 lowered them. Your portfolio spending money should be higher than it was a year ago.

Brokerage firm monthly statements are designed to promote either fear or greed, depending on the current market environment. Nowhere on your statement can you find numbers that report your net investment, your total working capital, or your true asset allocation. Current and projected income numbers are given little attention, and monthly withdrawals are treated like losses of principal.

Income portfolios are reported upon using the same format as growth portfolios, and too much analysis is required to determine if the income production is either safe or adequate …

Both presidential candidates want to crucify SEC Chairman Cox for failing to control our creative financial institutions. But rumor has it that Congress specifically excluded the devilish derivatives from SEC purview. Let’s fire the right bunch of “poips” for a change!

Scary markets are brought about by many factors, some normal, and some not so normal. It’s often helpful to look backwards before getting too paranoid about the present. The S & L crisis of the early 80s might be an appropriate starting point.

Later that decade, a multi-year rally had its head lopped off by high interest rates, high inflation, and a computer loop. Ten years later, another soaring market was toppled by economic factors. The turn of the century witnessed the bloody demise of the no-value-at-all dot-com illusion.

A profit taking strategy during the rally days was all that was …

An article recently published by ABC News tells the story of an elderly couple, Don and Marlene Bryce, who took a cruise to the Mediterranean aboard a Holland America vessel. Unfortunately, tragedy struck on what was supposed to be the vacation of a lifetime, celebrating Don’s retirement.

According to the ship’s records, Don became ill a little over a week into the trip. After several calls to the onboard physician, Marlene reported no improvement in her husband’s condition. Four days later, on the floor of their cabin, Don Bryce passed away from a massive heart attack.

While it has been ruled that the staff aboard the ship acted in a manner consistent with professional medical procedure, Marlene Bryce is not certain that proper care was taken in the handling of Don’s situation. Mr. Bryce had a history of heart trouble, and the wait-and-see approach that was adopted

With home foreclosures on the rise, those with money just sitting earning pennies in a Checkbook IRA account can put their money to work for them. Why is now a great time to be investing in the foreclosure market? There are three reasons.

3 Reasons to Invest in the Home Foreclosure Market Now

Buy Low: The key to investing in the foreclosure market is to find “good deals.” What is a good deal? Simply speaking, a property that has enough equity in it for you to buy it and make a profit. Right now, the market is flooded with properties that have a lot of equity.

Presently, the market is being swamped with all kinds of properties that have lots of equity. Why? Two primary reasons can be cited. One, the economy is in a recession, which means many are losing their job. And two, Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs) are coming …