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Have you visited www.vanguard.com? You should be able to find several option there, all with very low expense ratios.

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Real Estate could be good, but it depends on where and how much effort you are willing to put in. Also there is the question of how long you are willing to wait for some appreciation.

While some areas have hit bottom, many other areas have yet to get there. It will probably take a few more years before we see any real appreciation begin to happen in most areas. Meanwhile, there will be the need to maintain the place.

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If you want problems invest in real estate - ya don't need problems in your retirment years.

Muni bonds are very safe - they are guaranteed by the particular city - they have a fixed rate of interest and you will get an interest ck every quarter for the life of the bond and at the end you will get your principal back. The interest may not be much but it will be better than a CD.

The other thing that I would suggest is to buy a solid blue chip stock or a old stock that it paying a dividend every quarter - also look at preferred shares among the old stable stocks - preferred shares pay before common.

Consult barrons.com

Hi,

The type of investing a couple does should be based on their ability to handle risk. You need to determine what that is. Once you understand that, you should be able to build a diversified investment plan. There is no single investment class you should have, rather, a plan that reflects your risk tolerance. I should think that it would be wise to get informed about investment matters before you risk your money. I suggest starting with Ric Edelman's "The Lies About Money". That particular book discusses the types of investments available and helps the reader select an investment plan. If that book does not cut it, I would suggest "Buckets of Money" by Ray Lucia.

I am a strong proponent of active management via a professional advisor. I have found that most run of the mill advisers use a diversification appproach and set annual appointments to rebalance. A lot can happen in a year. Active managers look at your account "every single day" or weekly. They make minor changes as determined by the market conditions. I have been using this appraoch since 2003 and have been quite happy with it. Most advisors like this belong to a group called NAAIM. I know a lot of them as I belong to that group. If you want a recomendation email me.

Hey LenFox,

"I am a strong proponent of active management via a professional advisor."
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The main problem that I can see with this approach is that any advisor will require a fee/commission for his service, naturally. There seems to be little proof that an individual investor cannot achieve a return that is greater than what 50% of the advisors can deliver. Whether an advisor works for commission, an hourly fee or a management fee (or a combo of these) there is no denying the fact that he will take his cut prior to the individual investor receiving any return. This imposed toll that many investors pay, directly impacts their annual returns.

That's why I choose to retain 100% of my total return by investing without the assistance of an individual that siphons off a good part of my return and I generally receive a better return than well over 50% of the advisors that I read about or am personally familiar with.

I agree that an individual can easily beat 50% of advisors. But can an individual have the skills to create a portfolio that makes money during a protracted bear market? That is what I believe is the key to survival. If one objective is to only loss less than the buy and hold advisors ones portfolio still shrinks. A lot of this group made money in their portfolios from Oct 07 through 1st qtr 09. That is where they earn their fees.

I believe that a professional manager has a place in any self-managed portfolio. All portfolios need diversity to survive. Sometimes that diversity needs to be from ourselves and the our own human limits and emotions. You manage some yourself and have some advisor managed.

You can also find absolute return mutual funds. An easy way to get into this absolute strategy but from what I have seen the fees are close to what you would pay an active adviser. We have just been through a pretty tough bear and it is easy to check their performance over this period. Some did well and other record looked just like buy and hold. When you can find a fund or advisor that made 2% during a market dive of -25% it can be fairly easy to build the business case to justify paying for such performance.