Stock Market Basics

I hate seeing the individual investor taken for a ride, so I thought it might be a good idea to give you some recommendations for investment books that I feel genuinely do offer some good tips for investors.

At the financial conferences that I have attended in the past few months, recession has been the primary topic.

For the past couple of weeks, we have been talking about exchange-traded funds (ETFs), first, discussing several large ETF fund families, and then focusing on gold ETFs. This week, I want to more-narrowly focus our discussion, delving further into different classes of ETFs...

While we hate to usher in the New Year discussing such a dreaded topic as the AMT, we thought it would be helpful to bring you up-to-date on the latest (and actually good) news about the AMT.

Buying stocks, bonds, funds and exchange-traded funds is often akin to coming down the stairs on Christmas morning and finding lots of presents from Santa.

The holiday season brings out the best in folks, and that includes their generosity. It's the time of year for giving, and fortunately for those in need, many people include various charities in their gift planning.

Growing up, my parents' medical insurance was provided by their employers, and I don't ever recall them having to pay anything out-of-pocket for the numerous doctor and emergency room visits that my four siblings and I made routinely.

The Income Statement, also called the Profit and Loss Statement (P&L), shows investors whether a company made or lost money during the reporting period -usually three or 12 months.

The Beauty of the Russell 2000; Rising Star Stocks Watch List Profile; Discover the Profit Power from Emerging Markets

In today's market, the pressure for firms to produce outstanding earnings year after year sometimes creates a temptation to

"cook the books," as we have seen time and again over the last few years.

The buzzword for the last few years has been international investing.

As long as there is value in a higher price, then it's worth paying for. Mutual funds carry a huge range of fees, covering everything from compensation to financial advisors to the flight the analyst took to China to research investment opportunities.

Folks who have built substantial assets that need to be protected from unwanted and unnecessary taxes, or those who have heirs who may need special consideration or who need assistance with handling their inheritances, often establish a trust -which, when combined with their will- will ensure (as best as possible) that their estate is handled in accordance with their wishes.

Every day, in every grocery store, Americans willingly spend more money than they have to on ketchup. The shoppers and their families believe that Heinz is superior to any other ketchup on the market and they gladly pay the premium.

If you pass away in 2007 and your net worth, including life insurance, is less than $2 million, your estate will owe no federal estate taxes. That exemption rises to $3.5 million in 2009, is eliminated in 2010 and returns in 2011 with an exclusion of $1 million, unless Congress takes action, which most financial planners assume it will.