Folks frequently ask, what’s the best investment to be in now? Or, what should I invest in now? It’s understandable that given the history of the past couple decades, there always seemed to be a few “sure thing” investments like “dot com” stocks in the 90′s, or real estate in the 2000′s. What’s different now is, you can make money, but you have to learn more about the markets, and be more on top of your investments.

Along with learning to invest, to find the best investments for today it’s a good idea to develop some skills in reading what’s happening in the social sphere, the economy, the environment and politics. Paying attention to the news, you’ll see that the market often reacts to news right away. But for longer term ideas, these blips don’t matter as much as the consequences of policies and decisions made today that will impact the next few decades.

One example is global warming. No matter whether you believe in climate change or not, the fact is that weather patterns are more extreme all over the world. This will affect agriculture, population patterns, energy development and more. You can find investment opportunities in any of these spheres that will benefit your portfolio going forward.

There are also investment vehicles that have come into their own, and are more viable now than ever. Investing in ETFs for example is a less expensive way to invest in a variety of indices, commodities, and other vehicles not usually available to the average investor. This is an easy way to diversify, with less risk than a mutual fund; however the savvy investor still will do their homework and strive to educate themselves on the ins and outs of these types of investments, in order to minimize risk.

If your major concern is to determine what is the best way to invest safely for the future, keep in mind that the mutual funds of the 1990′s and 2000′s never were “safe”, because investors didn’t really know what they were investing in. Your best option for retirement income investing will come with knowledge and research. Not knowing the risks, not knowing the stocks in the funds, and not knowing that nothing is certain for the long term, many people were burned.

It’s important to understand that today, while the markets have climbed slowly back to where they were, many of the systemic risks that cause the problems of two years ago still exist. Volume is down, which means many investors are not trading stocks. The housing market is still not improving, and possibly has not even stabilized. Commercial real estate, which can impact the stock market possibly even more than residential real estate, is considered another shoe yet to drop. Banks are still unwilling to lend to consumers, and with salaries still at 1980′s levels, consumers don’t feel willing to spend enough to drive production and profits. The Wall Street firms that were over leveraged and under capitalized are still in the same position, still investing in the same derivative vehicles that caused the crash. Even top financial advisors and financial managers didn’t see the last crash coming – and they likely won’t again in the future. Individual investors can do at least as well on their own.

There have not been major changes in the way the markets work to prevent the kinds of excesses we recently saw, nor as a result the potential for economic downturns. Individuals will have to decide for themselves what are the best investments to be in, what is a safe investment for the future, and how much risk and reward they are willing to withstand.

A big question in this crazy market it, “What should I invest in right now?” – especially if you are looking for investments that will protect your principal and also possibly make money.

The days of just parking your cash in an index mutual fund and waiting for 20 years are long gone.  It might be helpful to talk a little bit about setting up some self directed accounts, including a self directed IRA, what that means and why you shouldn’t be afraid to buy individual stocks, as well as options and other types of investments.

When you invest in a mutual fund, you are giving all the control and authority to the fund manager to pick and choose stocks, to buy and sell as they see fit. (If you’re investing in a 401(K), you are giving all the control to your plan administrator – you can’t pick and choose among ALL mutual funds, only among those they decide are good for you.) You have to trust that fund manager to make choices you agree with. You have to trust that they understand what’s going on in the market.

However as so many experts are fond of noting, the large majority of fund managers failed to beat the stock indices, like the S&P 500 Index. So, lots of people started parking their money into what they thought were best index funds. For a while there, the funds did follow the stock markets, and did as well as the indices did, which wasn’t bad – until the markets crashed, and kept crashing. And so did all the index funds.

How can an average investor ever again feel confident or secure enough to get back into the markets? If you still think it should be as easy as just sending in your check, then you are better off putting your money in a cash savings account or under the mattress. To avoid losing, you need to learn something about investing.

Here’s just one solution. First, you need to learn to invest money. No matter how expert you are, or how many years you’ve been in the market, there is always something more to learn. But abandon the idea that you can just send your check to the mutual fund every paycheck. That’s over. You need to learn more about the funds, about stocks, and about what options are out there if the markets turn down again. One good choice today is to learn about using Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) instead of mutual funds – they trade like stocks, don’t have the same management fees and minimums to get invested, and you can buy a broad range of index funds, currencies, commodities and other investments that would otherwise be tough to get into for a new investor.

Next, you need to open an account where you can make all the decisions. If you currently have a retirement account through your employer, you should seriously consider opening up a self directed IRA as well. the reason is, many Americans can take advantage of an IRA when they don’t have access to other retirement options, or take an additional tax credit. For small business owners, there are self directed IRA plans such as a SEP-IRA that you can also open.

There are plenty of discount brokers out there. There is also a ton of websites where you can learn more about stock investing that you ever wanted to. This site recommends TradeKing as the best - fees are low, and they have awesome forums, educational materials, trading platforms and they have the Trader Network allowing you to follow top traders, ask questions and much more.

When you open a self directed account, you can open a regular brokerage account, or retirement accounts (IRA) or custodial accounts (UTMA, UGMA, Coverdell) for your kids’ investing. You can also open small business owner retirement accounts like SEP-IRA. Here is where you can take control of your retirement investments, and not delegate it to someone without knowing more. You can put a little money here to work with, until you learn more and step by step take back control of your investing.

All self directed means is that you decide and make the trade yourself, usually online, without having a broker or financial advisor do it for you. Using a discount broker with a lot of educational materials is key, and also to take small steps. You can buy safe investments in your self-directed account, like CDs or bonds, but you can also buy mutual funds, or exchange traded funds (ETFs) instead of mutual funds if you choose. You can also, as you learn more and bcome more comfortable with risk, branch out into options trading to help hedge your investment risk.

There is a lot involved in learning to invest money, and do well in the markets. With a self directed account, and taking the time to learn what should you invest in right now, you can learn what you need to know to profit from the incredible opportunities that will be coming up in the future.