This is a guest post from The Rogue League.

There are many ways to invest your money. To me, the stock market has always been the most interesting. I offer a few of my thoughts on investing in stocks here. And since I like fantasy baseball, I’ll offer examples of how these principles would apply in that realm. Note that I’m not actually offering investment advice here, and it’s important to remember that these are general principles– certain situations may require specific actions that go contrary to conventional wisdom.

1) Be Interested - this means to educate yourself on some general economic principles. It means to keep a level of interest in your investments sufficient that you will be aware of all the market forces that can affect it. Ideally, it would be in a company that you are naturally interested in, or perhaps already purchase products from. In terms of fantasy baseball, you have to be aware of what all is going on in major league baseball, enough so that you can make roster moves as needed.

2) Practice Patience - a good stock is a good stock. Hopefully you were able to buy it at a bargain. But perhaps it’s not doing so well right now. In terms of fantasy baseball, if you have Alex Rodriguez on your team, and he hits only .220 in April, would you drop him? You’re not a fool, are you? You keep him, because you know he’ll come around and get you good stats. If you have a good stock, but it’s struggling a bit, give it some time. That’s not to say there aren’t instances where the stock is tanking, and really you just need to get out and cut your losses. Many times, however, people panic prematurely. If you can avoid being one of those guys, you can profit off of them.

3) Embrace Change - sometimes one stock opportunity will have dried up when another is presenting itself. Don’t be afraid to re-evaluate your portfolio and make changes. Indeed, change is a constant in our economy. Our ancestors in the 1920’s could not have dreamed of the internet. However, today’s latest technology will be obsolete tomorrow as new products come to market. How we respond to change is the key. This may seem contrary to #2, but really what it’s saying is, once you’ve made the determination that you’ve been sufficiently patient, now, adapt to the differences. In fantasy baseball terms, once you’ve finally come to the realization that Mike Mussina is simply not, and no longer will be, the player he once was, don’t be afraid to drop him and grab a promising rookie off the waiver wire.

In addition to getting out of debt, being frugal, and saving for retirement, you would be wise to look into various forms of alternative income. If you think about it, looking ahead towards retirement you’re going to need another form of income other than your job. Most people hope to have enough money saved in their retirement accounts that they can live comfortably off of the interest or other investment income. So the question then becomes… Why wait until retirement to develop these income streams?

In fact, the sooner you create this alternative income, the sooner you will have reached financial freedom. Once your alternative income streams are greater than your expenses, you have the freedom to do whatever you’d like. You can continue to work, quit altogether, or find some happy medium in between. The point of all this is that you don’t have to wait until age 65 to make this happen.

There are many different forms of alternative income, and you’ll need to find what you’re most comfortable with. If you put your money into a money market account, you can view the interest earned as passive income. You might decide to purchase stocks that pay nice dividends. These dividends may serve to replace some of your current job income. One of my personal favorites would be real estate investment income. Here you may have an income producing rental property that gives you a hundred or so dollars a month or even more.

You may not want to put all of your money into income producing investments, but you’d be wise not to ignore them. It’s not bad to play the asset appreciation game, but there’s a whole other playing field with cash flow. Also, the more you look into this type of investing, the more opportunities you’ll find to increase your financial position.

By now you’re probably aware of the extreme market downturn that has occurred over the last couple of days. I’m sure a lot of people have lost quite a bit of money. Many people are selling and you’ll probably also hear a lot people say that it’s another great time to buy. Whatever you want to do you can probably find compelling reasons to do it.

You might want to implement the dollar cost averaging strategy however. It’s a way to make sure that you’re taking advantage of the buying opportunities offered by a down market and buying less in an up market. However you decide to handle the current market situation, try not to let your emotions (especially fear) get the best of you. When you invest you incur a certain amount of risk and you’ve got to be able to handle situations like this.

I would suggest that you look to see if there are any bargains in market though. Everytime there’s a downturn like this people sell things that they normally wouldn’t sell. They just follow the crowd. You may be able to find some great companies for sale at an attractive price.

If you’re reading this blog, chances are good that you’re trying to get ahead financially. There are a lot of things you’re probably doing right, and some things that you need to work on. Amongst all the other fiscally responsible things that you may be doing such as building an emergency fund and living frugally, you need to be investing in order to get ahead.

The next question is most likely, what should I invest in? And this is exactly the question that you should be asking yourself. If you’re looking for someone to tell you where the best place to put your money is, you’ll have no problem finding them. You can find brokers for stocks and bonds. Turn on the TV at night and you’ll almost surely find someone willing to show you how to invest in real estate. You could also find someone to help you invest in gold, silver, or commodities.

One of these is not necessarily better than the other. You need to find out what interests you and where you’d like to invest. Warren Buffett has made a ton of money investing in stocks. Donald Trump has done likewise mainly through real estate. Bill Gates and many others have gone the entrepreneurial route and invested in their own business. The point is that there are many different ways to invest and increase your wealth. If this weren’t the case, the Forbes 400 would be a very boring list.

I’ve written before about shopping for investments, and that we should put as much effort into researching where we put our money as we do comparing the different models of cars or flat panel televisions. If you’re interested in real estate, learn all you can about the industry and how to invest there. Take a trip to the library and check out all the books you can on the subject. There’s a wealth of information out there on the subject.

Perhaps you’re drawn more to the stock market and the opportunities that are offered there. There are also plenty of books, audio books, and websites where you can learn fundamentals and strategies of the stock market.

There are a lot of opportunities out there if you’re willing to look for them and seize them. You know you need to invest, so figure out what you’re style is and what type of investing interests you the most. You don’t have to invest in just one asset class, but start with one and branch out from there. And remember that no one else cares as much about your financial future as you do.

Apparently today was national 401k day. I found out about it at work since it was mentioned on our home page. I’m not really sure what to think about it, but I suppose it’s a good thing.

It wasn’t really very well publicized and there wasn’t much said about it, but I assume that the goal is to make people aware of their 401k. If your work offers a 401k plan and you’re not currently taking advantage of it, you should take some time to find out more information.

If you don’t think that you could afford to have a little bit taken out of every paycheck, you ought to give it a try because it’s not really as bad as you may make it out to be. You really won’t miss the money because you’ll never see it. So take advantage of this national day and go check out your 401k.

Many people wonder whether Certificates of Deposit (CDs) are really worth looking into, much less investing in. And there’s good reason for this with the high rates one may earn with a money market fund. Whether you’re interested in them or not, it’s nice to understand how they work. You never know when a CD might be just the thing for some situation.

The Low-Down

When one purchases a certificate of deposit, he/she invests a fixed amount of money for a specific amount of time. Typical durations are 6 months, 1 year, 18 months, or 5 years although this could vary. While the money is invested, the issuing institution pays you interest usually at regular intervals. You receive the original amount plus any accrued interest when the CD matures. It sounds simple enough, but there are a few things to look out for before you invest.

Watch Out For…

Most CDs come with an “early withdrawal” penalty. If you may need the money at some point during the term, a CD probably isn’t the right product for you. Any interest earned would probably be negated by the penalty charged. If you’re sure you won’t need the money during the chosen term, you won’t have to worry about this type of penalty.

You’ll also want to look into whether the CD you’re considering has a “call” feature. These are mostly found with longer term CDs. When a certificate of deposit is callable, the bank has the right to terminate the CD and return the principle and any unpaid accrued interest. The investor does not have this right. Banks will use this feature if interest rates fall and they can issue CDs at a lower rate.

You’ll also want to confirm the interest rate and know whether it’s fixed or variable. You should receive a disclosure document that details all of this information. You will also want to know when the interest will be paid, be it semi-annually or monthly. If something isn’t clear to you, make sure you ask all the questions you need in order to be completely comfortable with your decision.

It’s been awhile since I’ve talked about the Roth IRA and there are some important points to remember. If you’re a newer reader, you may want to go back and read Answering a Reader’s Question, Best of the Roth IRA, and Starting My Roth IRA. The options are plentiful when you’re looking into setting up a Roth IRA, but the benefits are pretty much the same no matter where you choose to set it up. I choose to have my Roth IRA with Scottrade because of all the options it offers me, but you may choose to go with another provider. Do whatever works for you.

For this year (tax year 2007) the maximum contribution limit is $4,000, and it will increase to $5,000 for 2008. After that, the limit will supposedly adjust in $500 increments in line with inflation. I say supposedly because as we know (or should know), the government can (and does) mess with it however they choose.

Not everyone is eligible however to contribute to the Roth IRA based on income. For single tax filers, the income limit is $99,000. Your allowable contribution amount will then phase out up to $114,000 where you no longer may contribute to a Roth. For joint filers, the limits are $156,000 to $166,000. If you happen to be above these income limits, I wouldn’t feel too sorry for yourself. There are plenty of other options available to you.

Another aspect of these types of accounts that many people are not aware of is that you can access a portion of the funds for qualified expenses. If you’re looking to save up for a down payment on a house, you’re allowed to withdraw up to $10,000 in earnings for such a purpose. Notice I said “earnings” here. At any time you’re allowed to withdraw an amount up to your actual paid in contributions because it was after tax money. For a new home purchase, you’re also allowed to access additional funds. Also, even though it’s called a “first time homeowner” distribution, you just can’t have owned a home in the prior 24 months.

Besides these and other nice aspects, it’s also nice throughout the year to be reminded to make those contributions. It doesn’t really do you any good to read all about the advantages of having one if you don’t set one up and contribute to it. We’re over half way through the year so you can gauge your contributions accordingly. Also, remember that you can still make contributions for 2007 up until the April tax deadline in 2008. Don’t use this as an excuse to put it off, but as a back up scenario. So, it’s time to evaluate your situation.