Notably Desitin, Tylenol and all that No More Tears stuff"); and $4,000 into Netflix ("My husband and I probably will upgrade our subscription since we'll be held captive for a few months").
--I like J&J Snack Foods (JJSF) ("everybody likes snacks, whatever the economic conditions"); Senior Housing Properties Trust (SNH) ("more seniors looking for downsized homes"); and Psychiatric Solutions Inc. (PSYS), an outsourcing agency for psychiatric care ("if this gets any worse, we'll need it").
--Business team leader Marcelene Edwards buys 53 shares of McDonald's (MCD) ("closed 2008 near its 52-week high but with the economy continuing to weaken, consumer will be looking for cheap places to take their families to dinner"); 125 shares of Kroger (KR) ("The company has developed lots of store brands at lower prices. Plus its Fred Meyer chain is a Northwest company"); and 69 shares of Fluor (FLR) ("Construction spending has skidded to a halt in the last six months but with the promise of big public works projects from incoming President Barack Obama, that could change").
--Managing Editor Dale Phelps chooses a 45 percent distribution to Caterpillar (CAT) ("machinery for all those 'shovel-ready' projects"); 35 percent to Kansas City Southern (KSU) ("an improving economy will ride the rails"); and the remainder to GameStop (GME) ("someone has to sell folks games for all those Wiis, Xboxes and PlayStations").
In a new feature this year, the team has, through a system of choices made while blindfolded, randomly chosen a final entry of three choices: Parker Drilling Co. (PKD); a health care-related real estate investment trust, or REIT, called HCP (HCP); and Nalco Holding Co. (NLC).
But enough about us.
Now it's your turn.
If you'd like to play along, pick up to three publicly traded stocks that will do well (that will at least make money) in 2009. Assign each its share of your imaginary $10,000.
Submit your entry, including your name and the ticker symbols of the stocks, by visiting The News Tribune Biz Buzz blog at blogs.thenewstribune.com/business, or send an e-mail to c.r.roberts@thenewstribune.com.
Or you may send a note by mail to C.R. Roberts at The News Tribune, PO Box 11000, Tacoma, WA 98411.
Anybody can play.
The deadline for submissions is 6 p.m. Wednesday, and the prize, should there be a winner, will again be lunch with the team.
Good luck, and remember: The stocks listed above are not recommendations. The money isn't real.
Be careful. Have fun.
C.R. Roberts: 253-597-8535
WASHINGTON -- Risk is out of the question. But the safest investments deliver almost nothing -- especially now when interest rates are at record lows. So how do you squeeze out a decent return and still sleep soundly?
One way is to replace low-yielding money-market accounts with certificates of deposit. You'll earn more interest, and if you choose a bank CD backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., your investment will be insured.
The downside is that your money is tied up for the term of the CD, typically from three months to five years.
But you can keep your CD investments somewhat more liquid by building a "ladder." Start by putting equal amounts into CDs with different maturities. As the first CD matures, reinvest the money into a new CD with your longest chosen time horizon. That way, you will regularly unlock a portion of your money while the balance is parked in something that yields more than the shortest-term instruments.
"Rather than shopping for who's got the best five-year rate, the idea is just to break it up a bit," said Karen Schaeffer, of Schaeffer Financial in Rockville, Md. Many of her clients are buying three-, six- and 12-month CDs "so that when interest rates start coming up again, they'll always have something coming due" that can be reinvested at a higher yield, she said.
If you're prepared for a little edgier investment, consider Ginnie Mae bonds, financial experts said. These are bonds guaranteed by the Government National Mortgage Association and made up of repackaged home loans insured by government agencies such as the Federal Housing Administration. Yes, they're tied to mortgages, and yes, they conjure up thoughts of woebegone Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But unlike Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bonds, securities insured by Ginnie Mae have always had the explicit backing of the federal government.
The easiest way into Ginnie Maes is through a mutual fund that specializes in them, such as the Vanguard GNMA Fund, currently yielding 4.96 percent, or the Fidelity Ginnie Mae Fund, yielding 4.85 percent.
