Carnival of Investing

Welcome to this week's edition of the Carnival of Investing.

I'm sticking with my usual method of hosting a carnival -- listing a summary of each piece with the author's reason for submitting the post to the carnival (for those that submitted one) and/or a bit of the post itself as a summary -- so you readers know what to expect before you get to the post.

With that said, here we go:

• The Time Tested Rules of Investing - The key thing I take away from this is that there is no right answer. That being said, I believe that a consistent strategy is the most important investing concept; but then again an inconsistent strategy may be what is important.

• No Guts, No Glory - Reviews the basics of risk vs. return and offers some practical suggestions.

• Great Investing Tip: Put Your Money Into BARRELS - You, my friend, are about to become a very rich man. And if you’re not a man but always wanted to be one, you’ll soon be able to afford it thanks to the fabulous investment tip I’m about to give you.

• Variable Annuities: Are they a good investment? - There is confusion whether or not variable annuities are a good investment depending on who you talk to. So, let’s look at some of the logic behind the different viewpoints.

• How To Lose Your Shirt Online - Are you looking for an easy way to blow through potentially thousands and thousands of dollars worth of your savings, all while getting the opportunity to have your own small part in a little criminal activity while you’re at it? Have I got a deal for you…

• Straight Talk about Viatical Settlements - To be honest, until researching for this post, I never knew much about viatical settlements. Sure, I’ve seen the advertisements over the years about how people can get cash for their life insurance policies, but there wasn’t ever anything too personal prompting me to go check out the websites or click on the banner ads.

• Why reinsurance companies like MRH are the place to be - Why reinsurance companies like MRH are the place to be.

• How to Get Through a Cash Pinch - Update on day 29 of the Million Dollar Savings Club.

• Learning How to Invest - Learning how to invest is very important for everyone. Understanding investment is important for your whole life even if you’re not doing the investing yourself. Otherwise, you won’t be able to know how to select your money managers, or even tell whether your money manager is lying to you.

• India Investments Looking Good - India’s stock exchange has passed the 12,000 mark. As a whole, the economy in India is expected to grow a little over 8% this year. If you’re looking at it short-term then don’t get your hopes up too high, the Indian market is fairly volatile. But if you’re a long-term investor you should feel confident investing in India because they are expected to be one of the leading economies in the world.

• Internet Ad Revenue Growth Slower – Is That Indicative of Something Bigger? - If enough of the big ad purchasers pull out, maybe Yahoo, and possibly Google, will sweeten the pot for the little guy.

• Manufactured, Modular, and Site-Built Homes: How Lending Practices Drive the Sales Market - Many people are unaware how profoundly lending policies influence the market for residential property. So I am going to go over the various gradations in available loans for various types of property.

• A Simple Relationship to Put Money in Your Pocket - Every US based worker that has attended a 401K planning seminar has heard the same lecture.  Diversify your money between US based Large, Mid and Small Cap stocks then mix in some International Stocks and Bonds.  Your percent allocation to each sector will vary depending on your age.  It must be sound advice if some many professionals agree on this approach.  Most will follow this advice tweaking it every now and then.  However, with a little more understanding you can outperform those advisors.

• Think We're Heading For 1970's Style Economic Collapse? What Should You Do? - A post on fears of a coming U.S. depression - why they're probably wrong, and what you can do for your portfolio if you're still convinced.

• Your Week Was Not as Bad As… -  This post helps put our investing losses in perspective.

• Compushare (formerly EquiServe) - Low-cost alternatives to brokerage houses include direct stock purchaing programs and dividend reinvestment programs.

• Spam Investment Scams - Reports on a New York Times Article on spam stock selling. A study showed that people buy stocks as a result of spam, and, surprise, much of the spam is a scam to artificially inflate the price of the stock and make the spammers rich. I was surprised that people could part with their money that easily, but, apparently, they do.

• Primum non nocere - Financial writers should above all, first do no harm, when providing investment advice to a mass audience. We note one writer who handles this job in a consistent fashion.

• Book review: Ahead of the curve by Joseph H. Ellis - This is a review of Ahead of the curve, a book on forecasting market and business cycles.

• The Week Ahead: Your Financial Roadmap for September 25 to September 29, 2006  - An overview of the economic indicators for the upcoming week including a calendar of economic indicators, Treasury auctions and interesting earnings announcements. Updated through the week as indicator results are released.

Thanks for visiting the Carnival of Investing!

Comments

[Donna]

The Carnival of Investing is Up:

Some great articles are posted at this week's Carnival of Investing hosted by FreeMoneyFinance. I was glad to be included. Go on over and take a look.

Thanks for including my article. I have lots of reading to do now. See ya!

Donna