Daily Money Advice
Personal finance and investing blog

Any investor or trader that has traded stocks for a few years has seen up, down, and sideways markets. If you are new to the market, pull up a chart of the S&P 500 chart for the last 5 years. You will notice the market has trends that go up, down, and sideways. Most traders and investors will tell you never to fight the trend but rather ride it instead. So, how do you trade or invest during each of the trends?

High yield savings accounts are a great place to stash cash for an emergency fund but the interest earned is not likely to keep up with inflation. For investors that are looking for high yields that will surpass that of inflation, three options to produce income are high yield bonds, master limited partnerships (MLPs), and real estate investment trusts (REITs).

Looking for a way to invest in currencies without opening a Forex account? There are ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) that allow you to invest/trade in almost every market available to include commodities, stock indexes, fixed income, and currencies. Investing in currencies is a way to hedge positions or to add diversification to your portfolio. The easiest way to play currencies is through the US dollar, either shorting or going long.

HOLDRs are another group of ETF-like investments that investors/traders can use to get exposure to different sectors or industries. HOLDRs are a little more complex than ETFs but offer many benefits. So, what makes HOLDRs different from most ETFs?