With consumers losing savings, their jobs and their homes, it was only a matter of time before businesses across the country began to feel pain.

Investors spend so much time thinking about risk and return they often forget to tax-manage their portfolio, says Alexander Green. But it’s easy to control how much you surrender to the IRS… without breaking the law. Alex gives five basic tips for maximizing your total investment returns after taxes.

Investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts has several tax advantages. Todd Schoenberger tells us about one particular REIT that is worth adding to your portfolio.

This is the third installment of a new Money Morning series highlighting investment opportunities created by the global bull market in commodities. There’s a classic squeeze going on in the timber markets right now.

On July 16, 2007, we sounded the alarm on commercial real estate stocks… aka REITs. We cited record low yields and high valuations as reasons for avoiding – or even shorting – the sector. It didn’t take long for the market to prove us right.

Looking at the credit data, it seems people have begun to stop paying their bills in order, from most expensive to least. Houses came first – that’s the most expensive bill. Autos came second.

Why are some companies starting to get real excited? Don’t they know what happens when the financial system goes dryer than Ms. Spears in rehab?