ETFs Rock

Recommendation from DCTAX

Fund: iShares Commodity-Indexed (GSG)

iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust debuted at number two on the ETF Momentum Tracker sector ranking last week. GSG was flanked on the table by funds investing in gold and silver and trailed closely by funds investing in the oil industry. Gold, silver and oil are among the 24 commodities in which GSG invests, and each-along with soybeans, wheat and lead-played a role in GSG’s dramatic surge late in 2007. All told, the fund gained an impressive 38.29% for the year ending January 25. GSG slipped back slightly during the first few weeks of the new year, but commodities’ continuing appeal during the recent shake-up in global financial markets allowed the fund to handily outperform broad market indices.

Uncle Cal recommends an ETF called "SPDR"..

Rather than owning Vanguard S&P500 index fund or Fidelity Index 500, you can buy the ETF "SPDR" which is the S&P500 but is traded like a stock..

Blu-ray and the format wars

It appears with Toshiba quitting the HDTV business, as well as the support of several studios, that Blu-ray has become the clear winner in the formatting wars. Wanted to know your thoughts? Is the average consumer ready to spend $400 a pop on a Blu-ray player now that this will be the standard for the next few years, or does this format continue to be meant for the technophile.

Choose To Save

This is a great web site for anyone who is not currently saving at least 10% of their income for RETIREMENT, regardless of how much (or how little) money they think they are making:

http://www.choosetosave.org

It's one thing to save money. It's another thing to save money for retirement (and not for a new couch, flat screen TV, or new car). I used to be one of those people who would save money, only to later spend it on some doodad. I have been healed. I am now a "born again saver".

Choose To Save will help those not saving 10% see the light. Maybe you know a friend or family member who would like of copy of their DVD "Mission Retirement".

Personal Records Guide

I saw this document online and found it to be somewhat useful. I only printed the file pages 5-19 (booklet pages 3-17) of the file because the rest is crap.

You can download it here: http://www.nmfn.com/contentassets/pdfs/guide2.pdf

It basically summarizes all the important financial & legal things in life so you are better organized. It will also come in handy for the executor of your will or for family members who have to pick up the pieces once you reach your great reward.

Free Annual Credit Reports

Now that the new year has started, it’s a great time to check your credit report for FREE. A new government law allows you to check your report once a year from each of the big 3 credit reporting companies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Get your free credit reports: www.AnnualCreditReport.com

Instead of checking your rating from all 3 companies at the same time, you can check your credit report once every 4 months by choosing a different company each time. That way, there’s less chance of identity theft going unnoticed for a long period of time. I keep a credit report folder in my filing cabinet so I know which company to check with next.

Do NOT get credit reports from FreeCreditReport.com and others like it, nor from the credit reporting companies directly, as they may sneakily sign you up for a credit monitoring service costing as much as $15 a month. www.AnnualCreditReport.com is the only site authorized by the US Government for consolidated free credit reports.