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    The Ultimate Must-Have Investment

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    By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Map Report -

    The "ultimate must-have investment" is a profit play that, when executed correctly, can't fail, but not one in a million investors has thought about it, let alone knows how to play it for maximum profits.

    The situation is so lopsided, in fact, that I'd venture a guess that 99.99% of all investors could quadruple their allocation to this particular must-have opportunity and still not have enough.

    Which makes this an even bigger opportunity for you...

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The Ultimate Must-Have Investment

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Map Report -

investment stocks

The "ultimate must-have investment" is a profit play that, when executed correctly, can't fail, but not one in a million investors has thought about it, let alone knows how to play it for maximum profits.

The situation is so lopsided, in fact, that I'd venture a guess that 99.99% of all investors could quadruple their allocation to this particular must-have opportunity and still not have enough.

Which makes this an even bigger opportunity for you...

If You Own Only One Investment, Make Sure This Is It

By , Executive Editor, Money Morning -

etf investing

For a change of pace today I wanted to tell you a personal story.

Twenty years ago, when I was working as a business reporter in upstate New York and covering Eastman Kodak Co. for Gannett Newspapers, I decided it was time to start saving for a house.

So I concocted a plan.

I wasn't exactly getting rich as a journalist, but I was doing okay. Even so, I knew I'd need an actual plan that I could commit to if I really was going to amass the needed down payment.

My plan was simple. In the years that followed, every time my bosses gave me a raise, I started a new mutual fund.

By the time I got a job at The Baltimore Sun in 1998 - and Robin and I moved to Maryland - I had more than $25,000 set aside from this plan and some other money I'd saved. And we could start looking for our first house.

I also learned a valuable lesson: A little discipline can take you a long way.

I was thinking about this the other day when Radical Technology Profits Editor Michael Robinson and I were talking about the "one investment you should never sell."

It's a perfect investment for house down payments, college funds, retirement, a vacation house, a boat, or the cruise of a lifetime - in short, the kind of big-ticket purchases that come along a couple times during a lifetime.

Let's take a look...

The 2012 IPO Calendar: How to Spot the Winners

By , Money Morning -

You might find yourself eyeing the 2012 IPO calendar with a bit more scrutiny after the Facebook (Nasdaq: FB) fiasco.

Although Facebook has been nabbing the most attention for disappointing its investors, it's hardly the first IPO to do so. It's all part of the fickle IPO process.

In fact, about 40% of the IPOs to hit the market over the past 12 months have seen their share prices fall below their IPO prices.

Facebook isn't the only factor to blame -- U.S. unemployment is up, the Eurozone debt crisis is sapping bullish spirit, and the upcoming U.S. presidential elections in November are adding to market uncertainty.

But avoiding IPOs altogether could also be a huge mistake.

Just ask those who bought the Google (Nasdsaq: GOOG) initial public offering. The Google IPO priced at $85, started trading at $100, and now trades around $560.

So how can you put yourself in the 60% group and earn a profit in the process?

With the right research and guidance, you can spot winners just like Google.

Do Your IPO Research

Investing in IPOs is like buying and selling any asset: due diligence is required.

An IPO, like a credit-default swap or subprime mortgage, is the ideal financial instrument for a limited set of circumstances. It is up to the individual or the institution to determine if the IPO they are considering is suitable for a long-term investment or a short-term flip.

If it qualifies as just a short-term flips, that is enough to tell you not to buy.

Whatever the investment objective, however, information is readily available for the necessary and needed due diligence.

For example, on March 17, 2011 Michael J. De La Merced wrote an article in The New York Times about the IPO of FriendFinder Networks (NYSE: FFN).

In his Timespiece,"FriendFinder Braves Choppy Market with IPO, Again," De La Merced did an excellent job of detailing his concerns with the stock, ranging from the disposition of the proceeds of the IPO to the accounting at the company to the number of times it had attempted to go public before and had to withdraw the offering.

FriendFinder Network IPO priced at $10 a share last year; it's now selling for around $1.15.

Other times an IPO can be hurt by factors having nothing to do with the financials of the company or the overall economic situation.

Take the Carlyle Group (Nasdaq: CG), a Washington, DC-based private equity group, which went public in May. Until Election Day in November, private equity groups will be vilified by the Obama Administration, unions and others due to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's work with Bain Capital.

There is no way that can aid the share price of Carlyle Group. Now trading around $21 a share, Carlye Group has slipped from its IPO high of $22.45.

To continue reading please click here...

Two Stocks to Buy in Uncertain Times

By , Money Morning -

Europe’s debt problems are hitting a breaking point, U.S. economic growth is slowing and the Dow is down about 7% in the past month – so investors want to know what to do. Money Morning Capital Waves Strategist Shah Gilani is doing just that – sharing the stocks he thinks will provide safety in these uncertain times. He joined Fox Business’ “Varney & Co.” Tuesday morning to share with host Stuart Varney two investments he has recommended to his Capital Wave Forecast subscribers. One is a solid pharmaceutical company with blockbuster drugs barreling down the pipeline and 4.8% dividend yield. The other is an alternative utility-based investment with 5.8% dividend yield. Watch this clip to learn more.

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Better Than Brazil: How to Invest in a Colombian Safe Haven

By , Money Morning -

What's an investor to do?...

The Eurozone is about to collapse. The United States is struggling out of the deepest recession since World War II. And the IMF forecasts global growth will drop from 5% in 2011 to 2.6% in 2012.

How about investing in a safe haven far away from all of these troubles - one where you can actually watch your money grow?

I have found one in Colombia. Let me tell you why.

It is because Colombia is no longer a place controlled by drug kingpins or ripped apart by civil war. Colombia is a country on the comeback.

This revival began in 2002 when former president Alvaro Uribe decided to take on both the leftist guerillas and the drug barons. Since then, his successor Jose Santos has followed up on those policies, and they have worked.

In 2011, Colombia's homicides dropped by 5% to 14,746 and its murder rate dropped to 33 per 100,000 of population.

Admittedly, that's still five times the U.S. level, but these things are relative - it's half the level it was just four years ago.

Foreign investors have noticed, and last year, foreign investment in Colombia was up 56% to $14.8 billion.

Colombia Beats Brazil

In fact, according to the World Bank's "Doing Business" survey, Colombia ranked 42 out of 183 countries.

That was near the top spot in Latin America and far above Brazil's appalling rank of 126. Only Chile was higher with a rank of 39.

Stock market investors have noticed this, too - in the second half of 2011 Colombia had $4.9 billion of initial public offerings, the most in Latin America - and yes, again ahead of Brazil!

On the macroeconomic side, Colombia is sound, with public debt at just 45% of gross domestic product (GDP), a modest budget deficit, inflation just over 3% and the central bank base rate at 4.75% -- no Ben Bernanke nonsense of zero interest rates!

Colombia has also gotten a boost by a surge in oil production, with exploration now possible in areas that had been "no go" for foreign investors for decades.

In November 2011, oil production was 920,000 barrels/day, up 17.5% from the previous year. Oil and minerals were responsible for 82% of Colombia's 2011 foreign investment, so the potential for investors is immense.

However, the real reason why Colombia is so attractive

[To continue reading, please click here...]

Silver Shines

By , Money Morning -

With it's price at 21%, silver outshines gold for investors. Keith Fitz-Gerald, Chief Investment Strategist for Money Map Press joins Fox Business' Varney & Co. to explain whether everyday investors should put their money into this precious metal, and what choices are available.

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Question of the Week: Readers Respond to Money Morning's Investment Toolkit Query

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning -

Success in the business world is most often achieved by those with a competitive edge.

That's why, here at Money Morning, helping readers find that edge for their investment toolkit is Job One. In the past week alone, we've introduced readers to two little-followed indicators that have big proven payoffs. The first was the Baltic Dry Index, a shipping index that provides a panoramic view of the global economy. And the second was the "Gold Spike Indicator," which helps gold investors time their purchases.

Shrewdly used, either (or both) of these indicators have the potential to provide investors with that sought-after competitive edge.

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We Want to Hear From You: What's in Your Investment Toolkit?

By , Associate Editor, Money Morning -

Success in the business world is most often achieved by those with a competitive edge.

That's why, here at Money Morning, helping readers find that edge for their investment toolkit is Job One. In the past week alone, we've introduced readers to two little-followed indicators that have big proven payoffs. The first was the Baltic Dry Index, a shipping index that provides a panoramic view of the global economy. And the second was the "Gold Spike Indicator," which helps gold investors time their purchases.

Shrewdly used, either (or both) of these indicators have the potential to provide investors with that sought-after competitive edge.

Take the Baltic Dry Index. As Money Morning Guest Columnist Jack Barnes explained, "the Baltic Dry Index has [historically] shown itself to be the EKG of future industrial demand. And, right now, the BDI is screaming "Danger, Will Robinson!" to any investor who will read it and heed it as a true leading indicator."

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Top Profit Plays for a Defensive-Investing Portfolio

By , Executive Editor, Money Morning -

Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz once said that "the best defense is a good offense." Although that bit of wisdom has been used everywhere from the battlefield to the gridiron, it could just as easily be deployed as part of a "defensive investing" strategy.

And in today's markets - whipsawed by worries emanating from virtually every major market around the globe - a defensive-investing plan needs to include protective stops, inverse funds, high-yielding dividend shares, "sin stocks, and investments in oil and other value-storing commodities," Keith Fitz-Gerald, the best-selling author who is Money Morning's chief investment strategist, said in an interview this week.

With the world markets in flux, Fitz-Gerald sat down with Money Morning Executive Editor William Patalon III to talk about defensive-investing strategies. What follows is the full text of that interview.

For the full text of the interview, please read on...

The 50-40-10 Investment Strategy Pays Off in Profits, Protection & Potential

By , Chief Investment Strategist, Money Map Report -

What's more important: Having an investment strategy that performs strongly when the overall market is up, or having an investment strategy that guards against downside risk when the overall market is trending down, while keeping you in the hunt for inflation-beating, long-term profits?

Before you answer, consider the following:

  • If you invested $1,000 in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index in 1950, it would have grown to $613,013 by December 2007.
  • If you had tried to "time" the market and missed the 30 best months in that 57-year period, the value of your initial $1,000 investment would have risen to just $35,404 - a difference of $577,609.
  • But if you tried to time the market and missed the 30 worst months in that time, your $1,000 would have grown to $9,509,094!
That's right - more than $9.5 million! (Obviously the study is a little dated given recent events but the net effect isn't all that different)

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Congress May Double Taxes on Private Equity Firms in Search for New Revenues

By , Contributing Writer, Money Morning -

Democrats in Congress, seeking new sources of revenue after passing President Barack Obama's $940 billion health-care reform measure, may double tax rates on executives at private-equity firms.

The U.S. Senate has taken up a House proposal to levy a new tax on executives who make long-term investments, including venture capitalists, managers of real- estate partnerships, hedge-fund and private-equity managers, Bloomberg News reported.

The proposal, expected to raise $24.6 billion over a decade, eliminates a tax provision which allows money managers at privately held partnerships to treat most of the revenue they bring in as capital gains.

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Would You Like to Be My Partner?

By , Guest Columnist, Money Morning -

I'd like to make you a business offer. Seriously. This is a real offer. In fact, you really can't turn me down, as you'll come to understand in a moment.

Here's the deal. You're going to start a business or expand the one you've got now. It doesn't really matter what you do or what you're going to do. I'll partner with you no matter what business you're in - as long as it's legal. But I can't give you any capital - you have to come up with that on your own. And I won't give you any labor - that's definitely up to you. What I will do, however, is demand that you follow all sorts of rules about what products and services you can offer, how much (and how often) you pay your employees, and where and when you're allowed to operate your business.

That's my role: to tell you what to do.

Read More…