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Investing Basics

A few weeks ago, we asked DailyFinance readers for their best tips for putting your financial house in order. We've covered saving and spending wisely. Now, we move on to another key to long-term financial security: making your money work for you.
For the first time in several decades, the 30-year annualized returns of Treasury bonds surpassed the dividend adjusted gains of the S&P 500 in 2011. Take a picture if you want -- because this won't last.
Sell-side analysts are often criticized for acting too slowly when it come to downgrading companies and lowering estimates. That means if you rely on the experts, you'll be reacting late too.
Nobody likes to pay taxes, but its worse when you're stuck paying them on income you never earned. Unfortunately, that's exactly what happens to many of us every year around this time, thanks to a quirk in how mutual funds operate and are taxed.
Like consumers, companies can take on too much debt. The debt-to-equity ratio offers one way to tell whether a leveraged business is taking on too much. Here's how you can do the simple math before you invest.
Thanksgiving's still two weeks away: You're getting ready for Black Friday, not April 15. But all those one-day deals pale next to what you could save on your taxes by taking a few smart steps before Dec. 31.
Today brings part three in a our series on Mathanese -- the numbers behind investing's big equations. But as much as math may turn you off don't click away. There's nothing too complicated here, despite how intimidating money managers make it seem. Our subject: free cash flow.
The Occupy Wall Street crowd has plenty of reasons to complain about how the big financial institutions treat Main Street America. But you'll be shocked to find out how poorly the masters of the investment world treat their richest clients. Multimillionaire and ex-CEO Al Checchi pulls back the curtain.
Filmmaker and political gadfly Michael Moore has joined the Occupy Wall Street movement, and his tirades against corporate greed, bailouts for bankers, unemployment are all mostly accurate and on point -- but when he says "the 99%" should stay out of the markets, he's giving terrible financial advice.
Options: It's a word that makes you shiver with fear or salivate at opportunity. In fact, there's one options strategy that's almost certain to add some extra money to your portfolio over time, without adding lots of risk. It's the technique known as writing covered calls, and it's perfect for times like this.
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