The foolish five: The best of Motley Fool

Each weekday, I'll be bringing you my list of the five best articles from the staff at The Motley Fool:

1. Investing in Your Backyard: Michigan This piece gives an overview of some of some of the top publicly traded stocks in Michigan, including (of course) General Motors and Ford, but also Border's and Pulte Homes.
2. ConAgra's Tasty Quarter Michael Leibert takes a look at one of Jim Cramer's least favorite stocks. A laggard over the past few years as it attempts to sell off its commodities businesses to focus on its brands (like Healthy Choice, Chef Boyardee, and Hunt's), the company rebounded this quarter with a 38% gain in earnings after extraordinary items.
3. The 40-Year Old Savings Virgin With a title like that, I probably don't even have to tell you any more to get you to read the article. It's an interesting (albeit un-earth-shattering) look at the importance of starting early in saving and investing. Show it to your kids and grandkids.
4. Buffett Small Cap Investing This is an interesting take on Warren Buffett's ideas about investing in small cap stocks for huge profits over short periods of time. It's different from the buy-and-hold stuff that is now associated with Buffett, but it's how he earned the best returns of his career with the Buffett partnership. On a side note, this (big investments in a few small cap stocks) is how I've made most of gains in the market.
5. 3 Questions to Ask Before Selling This is a good article to read and remember. I always try to ask myself these questions before I sell a stock.