Fortune 40: Stocks to Retire On

Will the Dow and the S&P 500 go back to their record-setting ways? Is the recent weakness the start of something much worse? With the fate of the bull market hanging in the balance, this is a perfect time to revisit the Fortune 40, the portfolio we've designed - and recalibrated annually - to help you thrive in markets both rocky and calm, and build for retirement.

Our 40 favorites turned in a banner year, trouncing even the S&P's glitzy performance. From June 2, 2006 to June 1, 2007, our diversified group returned 27.4%, compared with 21.5% for the S&P. Since its inception in 2002, the Fortune 40 has delivered an 18.3% annualized return, easily besting the S&P's 14.7%.

More from Fortune on CNNMoney.com: • Fortune 40: In-Depth Slideshow • Six Supertrends ... and Six Superstocks • Ben Stein's Perfect Portfolio

This year, we've created five mini-portfolios: Growth and income; bargain growth; deep value; small wonders; and foreign value. Together they comprise a diversified portfolio.

We started with virtually the entire market and narrowed the field by running a grueling series of screens based on each experts' methods. We focused on companies whose shares appear cheapest relative to their long-term growth prospects. We combed through SEC filings, scoured analyst reports, and grilled large shareholders. We favored stocks that are also owned by fund managers with demonstrated records of success.

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The 100 Most Inspirational Personal Finance Turnaround Stories Online

If you’re like many Americans, you probably have some concerns about your personal finances. You may be worried about credit card payments, high interest loans or whether your retirement plan is going to provide you and your spouse with enough money to sustain you. The bloggers highlighted in this article used to have similar problems, but they’ve all decided to make a change for the better. Although many of them haven’t yet achieved what they set out to do, they can all be considered successful. They’ve changed the way they think about money, and that’s the most important step you can take. In this article we have collected 100 of the most inspirational stories of financial turnaround from around the web in order to provide you with the inspiration you need to make a change in your own life.

Saving

This group is made up of serious savers. Some of them are figuring out what to do with the money they used to send to credit card companies, while others are trying to play catch-up on nest eggs. All of them are taking great steps to improve their financial futures.

1. Ima Saver: Ima Saver started a saving challenge with $20. She saves her change, profit from odd jobs and any other money she comes across. To date, she’s saved over $11,000.
2. Grad Money Matters: The writer behind Grad Money Matters is a self-professed “poster child for why not to delay starting a nest egg.” After missing out on lots of time, this blogger is working even harder, trying to develop means of passive income.

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102 Personal Finance Tips Your Professor Never Taught You

Investing

65. Be wary of mutual funds. Few mutual fund managers can beat both the market and the expense fee that they charge.
66. Don't try to pick stocks. Picking stocks can be a very dangerous game, unless you know what you're doing.
67. Avoid fees. With long term investing, fees are a primary factor in total return. Avoid brokers who take high commissions and avoid funds with high management costs.
68. Stocks are high risk, high reward. Over the long term, stocks have historically outperformed all other investments. But over the short term, they can be risky if they lose a lot of value in a short period of time. So, do invest with stocks, but only with funds you won't need to withdraw over the short term.
69. Stocks first, bonds later. Invest in stocks when you're young, and then move into bonds are you grow older. Stocks are a good long-term investment strategy. If you're still young when the market turns south, you'll have plenty of years left ahead of you to make it up. As you get older, invest in bonds. They're less risky.
70. Past performance is not a guarantee of future success. Just because a stock has been up for the last six months does not mean it will continue to go up tomorrow.
71. Diversify your portfolio. Never invest more than 10% of your portfolio in any one company. Even if it's a "sure thing".
72. Build a nest egg that is 25 times the annual investment income you need. Don't think you can rely solely on social security.
73. If you don't understand how an investment works, don't buy it. Research an investment vehicle thoroughly before you get into it.
74. Don't borrow from your 401(k). Think of it as robbing yourself. You'll get hit with high fees and taxes, too.
75. Invest for the long term. There is no such thing as a guaranteed get rich quick scheme. And in investing, there is no high reward without a high risk. Use caution and diversify your portfolio for the long run.
76. Seek professional help. Don't feel the need to turn yourself into a day trader. Hire a personal financial advisor if you can afford to.
77. "Fee-only" is your friend. Go with a fee-only financial advisor, not a fee-based or a commission-based. Only fee-only advisors are legally obligated to act in your best interests.
78. Index funds are your friend. Index funds are passively managed and are generally cheaper and more tax-efficient than actively managed funds.

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Value investing

Blastinvest

CoolInvesting

Cool investing

" The 7 Levels of Investor "

Learn The Seven Fast Track Money Steps To Financial Freedom
By John R. Burley

Introduction
“If you reach for the stars, you might not quite get one, but you won’t end up with a handful of mud, either.” Leo Burnett

What type of investor are you? Have your investment experiences been positive, negative, or mixed? Would you like to know why you get the results (positive or negative) that you get when you invest? Of course you would!

Good news. I am here to tell you why you get the results that you do! Over the past 20 years, I have devoted myself to the study of money. I have driven myself to know exactly how it works and why. I have read every book, watched every video, and listened to every tape I could find on the subject. Over that same period, I have interviewed, counseled, and trained thousands of people in relation to the practices of wealth building.

During my in-depth study of what I refer to as the “Money Game,” I made a startling discovery. Despite the many and varied personality types in the world, there are really only Seven Basic Types (or Levels) of Investor. And while it is common for an individual to drift a little from one investor type to another, most
people will stay fixed at one level for their entire lives. The bad news is that they are often “stuck” at a level which prevents their financial success. The good news is that anyone, with a little effort, including you, can easily upgrade his or her investment skills.

The first step to upgrading yourself is to identify what type of investor you really are. Knowing this will give you a clear awareness of why you get (or do not get) the investment results you desire. With this new awareness you can adopt (or maintain) the attitudes required for your desired level. You can then invigorate this awareness with appropriate action, to give yourself the results you so richly deserve. "

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The Do-It-Yourself Market-Neutral Portfolio

"Geoff Considine (Quantext) submits: The hedge fund business has been growing rapidly in recent years—with no end in sight. Wealthy investors are seeking alternative investments to meet their needs and hedge fund managers have an array of tools and strategies at their disposal. One of the core strategies employed by hedge funds is what is called market-neutral investing. A market-neutral portfolio is designed to deliver returns that are not impacted by the movements of the broader market. This does not mean that a market-neutral approach is low risk, however. Goldman Sachs' (GS) largest hedge fund employs market-neutral strategies and has attributed their very poor recent performance partly to this approach.

The defining objective of a market-neutral portfolio is that its returns have low correlation to the broader market. Investors use such funds as a diversifier to their other investments in equities. Low-correlation between assets improves their diversification value. In practical terms, increased diversification means that you can achieve a higher return for the total amount of portfolio risk."

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Comfort Zone Investing

Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night

by Ted Allrich
St. Martin's Press

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Welcome to the Comfort Zone!

You can invest without stress. With this new book, Ted Allrich of The Online Investor explains how to build a Core Portfolio and what you must know to understand the stock market. He takes his 35 years of investing experience and gives you the insights into Wall Street that make the difference between success and failure.

Once you've read Comfort Zone Investing, the market can do what it wants. Down 200 points in a day won't bother you. You'll be in your Comfort Zone, building wealth and sleeping well.

For more details on the book by chapters, click here.

High Level Approaches to Passive Income Generation

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