Devoted to understanding the basics and fundamentals of investing

Welcome to this week's Carnival of Investing.  We tried to do a themed carnival this week on Alternative Investments for the Individual Investor.  Given the short notice I think we did pretty well.  You be the judge.  On with the show!

We start out the week with two pieces on Alternative Investments.  Yours truly submitted a blog with short explanations of many alternative investments.  You can find it here.  If you want to know what an equity neutral hedge fund is or what a pure alpha strategy is you can find answers in this piece.

Abnormal Returns wrote an article on why there is demand for Alternative Investments and why the demand is likely to continue.  Here is the link: http://abnormalreturns.wordpress.com/

We then have 5 blogs on different aspects of investing in Real Estate.

Andrew Leahey writes "Is a Reverse Mortgage for Me?"  He has a good discussion, but I particularly found the comments useful.  If you have elderly parents or plan to become elderly someday, you ought to understand this product.

Michael Emilio shares a piece titled, "Condo Hotels - Questions and Answers".  This is a relatively new way to invest in real estate.  It is similar to a time share, but is meant to be an income producing property.  You'd want a high occupancy hotel to ensure you covered your monthly maintenance fees.  Michael is in the business.

Free Money Finance submitted an article, "My Real Estate Investing Plan for the Housing Decline".  He has saved up cash and intends to buy low for all cash and sell high for profits.  The comments he received remind him one of the big advantages of real estate is that you can use leverage and use his cash for multiple properties, not just one.

Dan Melson also addresses an aspect of a decline in the real estate market.  I remember the housing crash in Texas where people were so far under water that they walked away from their properties to let the banks foreclose.  Dan's piece is titled, "Recourse Loans and Non-Recourse Loans".  Most mortgages today are recourse, so it makes walking away more difficult.

Finally, for the real estate investors in the United Kingdom, A Samuel discusses some software available to evaluate properties, "Rightmove and its Web 2.0 Competition"

For those interested in precious metals we have two submissions on Gold.  My 1st Million at 33 writes about a pending breakout in, "The Logical Paradox Among Markets".  Interested readers should check out his piece today.  Markets are moving down not up.

Explosive Speculations is bullish on gold and explains why in his submission, "Explosive Speculations - Fed Pause"

Nina Smith writes about a social investment I haven't covered before but like a lot called Microfinance.  I've spent a week with Mohammed Yunis and seen the results of his efforts in Bangladesh.  If you have some disposable income and want to do a lot of good, do as Nina suggests and lend or donate some money to a microfinance company.  You can read about UNITUS a microfinance accelerator I helped found on my blog site http://growyourfunds.com and scroll down.  You can read Ms Smith's article, "The Best of Microfinancing" for another not-for-profit opportunity.

That's the end of articles on Alternative Investments.  I will include the other blogs having to do with investing that didn't have time to write on the subject below.

Dan Meyer gives us "Eight Key Investment Terms" that he feels are critical to understand if you are an investor.

Kay Bell reminds us that the options timing scandal may broaden out and affect other companies in her blog, "Trickle Down Tax Enforcement"

Bryan C Fleming has a system of savings that he espouses.  He shares one part of it in his submission this week titled, "Why Cash Is King!"

Joe Caterisano defines compound interest and gives examples of its power in his article, "Compound Interest".

Daniel discusses one of the most important subjects in investing, Asset Allocation and life cycle in his article, "My Sister's Retirement - A Detailed Case Study".  You have to scroll down to get to the article.

Nickel talks about defined benefit versus defined contribution plans.  He has to choose between a pension and a 401(k).  He discusses each and his assumptions and is looking for advice.  Drop in and share your knowledge at "Retirement Savings Options - Part I"

Trent's submission is "Why Verison Looks Cheap".

Moneywise shares the largest Mutual Funds that don't belong to the American, Vanguard or Fidelity Family in his piece, "Large Mutual Funds"

Finally, we get a weekly economic calendar from Tom Hanna in his submission, "The Week Ahead: Your Financial Roadmap for September 11 to September 15, 1006"

Thanks for reading and I hope you were able to find articles of interest to you.