3 reasons to stop worrying and invest now

Hoarding cash isn't any safer.

By InvestorPlace Oct 6, 2011 10:05AM

By Jeff Reeves, InvestorPlace.com

You might think it’s a stupid idea to buy stocks right now. And I’ll admit, things are a bit bleak. Seasonal hiring is disappointing, and unemployment remains stubbornly high. Inflation is eroding family budgets, while wages and personal income are stagnant. Debt woes in Europe are in focus, but the "supercommittee" ensures that debt problems in America will be the subject of ridicule sometime soon.

It’s indeed ugly on Wall Street. September saw us shed about 4% from all of the major indexes, and if we hadn’t seen some big up days last week, we could have languished at lows that were off about 6% on the month. And who knows what October will bring after a flop earlier this week and a rally off the lows in the past two days.

But the risk you should be focusing on right now isn’t the risk of owning stocks. No, the real risk could be what will happen if you are not invested in the market.

Here are three reasons you should stop fretting and start investing now, with opportunities to prove the point to consider:

1. Cash is losing value fast. The myth of going to cash is that you will protect your money. Maybe you won’t see a red arrow next to your bank account unless you make a withdrawal, but the sad reality is that if your money is just sitting there, it is losing value every day. The U.S. Labor Department reported recently that consumer prices were rising at a 3.8% annual rate -- the hottest pace of inflation since November 2008. In short, your money buys about 4% less now than what it did a year ago.

Still think it’s wise to let your cash just sit there?

The solution is to seek shelter in sectors that profit from inflation. For instance, the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO ) focuses on agriculture and food companies that feed the farm industry, companies that are benefiting handily from selling higher-priced corn, soy and other grains to both consumers and packaged-food companies alike.

For mutual fund investors, consider the PIMCO Commodity Real Return Strategy Fund (PCRAX ). With $16.5 billion under management, it's one of the largest and most respected pure-play commodity funds out there, buying and selling futures on hard commodities like oil, grains and gold. This is a broad-based way to play inflationary trends and a more direct investment on inflation. The downside is that the expense ratio is a bit steep at over 1.2%, but the active management and sophisticated trading by PIMCO’s staff might make the premium worth it to some folks who want to deal in commodities directly this way.

2. Stocks and funds are the only place to find income. Ten-year T-notes yield less than 2% as of the end of September. A high-yield savings account or CD delivers about the same. What’s the point of tying up your money in these investments, only to see it languish and deliver such paltry returns on your investment?

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No, the only true place to find income these days is in dividend stocks. And not just a decent 3% or 4% return. If you do some hunting, you can find stocks that yield more than 6% of your investment via stable and sustainable dividends.

Consider telecoms like AT&T (T ) and Verizon (VZ ). Both yield more than 6%, and the duopoly between them means neither stock is going anywhere.

In Big Pharma, stocks like Pfizer (PFE ) and Eli Lilly (LLY ) yield more than 4.5%. Also big brands that will stick around for decades.

Utility stocks like Consolidated Edison (ED ) and Southern Co. (SO ) also boast 4%-plus yields. Utility stocks are legalized monopolies with as stable a business as you can find, so no risk of dividend cuts there.

The list goes on. What’s more, you can find master limited partnerships (MLPs) and real-estate investment trusts (REITs) that boast even bigger yields based on their tax-code designation and mandate to deliver the lion’s share of profits to shareholders.

Not comfortable picking an individual dividend winner? Well, fund investors should consider the Dow 30 Enhanced Premium & Income Fund (DPO ) ETF, which boasts a yield north of 9%. It trades well under $10 per share and pays about 23 cents per share in quarterly distributions.

3. There are always profits if you invest wisely. You might be convinced that because the market is volatile and that the Dow Jones is slightly in the red year to date, that means that stock investors have gotten fleeced. Not so.

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For starters, a host of big-name stocks have outperformed. Take Apple (AAPL ), the poster child of a stock that is beating the market, which is up 20% so far in 2011 as of this writing. McDonald's (MCD ) is up 17%. Visa (V ) is up 24%. There are a host of others.

Yes, it is impossible to lock up all the stocks that are going to rise and avoid all the stocks that are going to fall, but in a diversified portfolio, some of these gains would more than offset losses.

Think it’s above your pay grade to build a diversified portfolio like this all alone, or to find the real winners in a tough market? That’s what good actively managed mutual funds are for. Take the Wells Fargo Advantage Growth Fund (SGROX ) that has tallied 15% gains in the past 12 months versus a measly 3% for the Dow. That’s in large part thanks to winners you might have not even heard of, like Alexion Pharmaceuticals (ALXN ), which has tacked on 60% gains since January. No bear market there.

In short, don’t think that just because the market is down your portfolio has to be.

Jeff Reeves is the editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not own a position in any of the aforementioned stocks. Write him at editor@investorplace.com, follow him on Twitter via @JeffReevesIP and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.

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