One of my wonderful friends, Ms. P, asked me for some guidance on how she might allocate $50,000 currently earning peanuts in a money market account. Though she is decades from becoming a grandmother, after a brief discussion about her financial parameters, it became clear to me that she was looking for a "granny fund."

In reality, my recommendations would be suitable, and perhaps desirable, for many passive investors as well.

The $50,000 is a portion of money Ms. P has set aside to purchase a home, which might happen in six months, but could also be pushed out further, depending on the economy and her situation. Basically, she wants to cover all her bases because she might need the money at any time and does not want to be caught short, while at the same time she would like to generate some revenue without taking any big risks.

We keep hearing that consumer spending propels 70% of our economy and that we will not see real growth without an increase in consumer confidence, meaning spend, spend, spend. This is very bad advice! Let other people spend -- you should be saving!

This is a theme I have been hammering on all year and I will continue to do so. I believe this is so important to our personal and national long term health that any true investment discussion, be it on the web, radio, television, newspapers or magazines, is just blowing smoke if it is not a primary focus.

Money market accounts and certificates of deposit are safe, but they provide very little return on your investment. This fact, and the invigorated stock market, provoked one of my bankers, Dobrinka, at the local Santa Monica Wells Fargo branch, to ask for advice on how I would invest $25,000 if I was just starting out.

This is a common question although the starting point in terms of cash varies. It certainly makes a difference how old the person is, their general knowledge about investing and finance, and the particulars of their financial statement.

Here is what I suggested sticking to regular themes I have written about before and broadly speaking would be a conservative approach emphasizing safety, diversity, liquidity, dividends and the potential for growth far exceeding cash in the mattress or in a money market account. I also think that it is important for beginners to educate themselves so my suggestions include an educational aspect.

There's an old saying: "He who hesitates is lost." This is one of the best rules to use when investing.

Professor Lasse H. Pedersen of New York University wrote a book on the liquidity crisis titled When Everyone Runs for the Exit. He uses a poker analogy in which the player who has decided to either fold early or stay in for the kill makes the most money. The player who hesitates loses the most money.

You can learn a lot from your elders and when it comes to investing, you best listen very attentively. I often refer to 'my pal Warren' in my posts and I credit Mr. Buffett's investment advice and parables over the years for much of my gains in 2009.

There is another mentor, though, one I have not referred to often but that I have gleaned some wisdom from in terms of value investing and courage, and that is 'my pal Sir John.' While Buffett has been very straight forward in his position that you should buy on fear and this was the year to do that, it was Templeton that preached buying far and wide and diversifying broadly into out-of-favor companies. As he did when he started out.

Anybody reading Bloggingstocks.com for any length of time will know that I have been following Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG) since its beginning.

Yesterday the company reported strong top and bottom line growth, with profits of $1.62 per share, about 37 cents ahead of analyst estimates, and its revenue of $260.6 million was $30.6 million greater than expected. Intuitive also raised its forecast for procedures performed using da Vinci systems, which can lead to increased sales.

The market may be entering a more volatile period or it may just go sideways for a while. The last few weeks the market has been down. Maybe it is because the rapid rise mid-March through mid-June is forcing people to stop and take a breath, or perhaps it is because investors are having second thoughts about whether the "green shoots" Ben Bernanke spoke of in regards to a healing economy were really just weeds.

All in all, I still believe that there is opportunity in this market and I have been trying to point out how investors can get in with as little risk as possible, while being rewarded for their patience now, and when a recovery ensues ---- whenever that is. To this end, two weeks ago I posted Serious Money: Five high-yield, safe, diversified stocks and decided to follow up with another five I think will produce similar results.

Nothing is worse than repeating past mistakes. Despite the awful economy, my newest portfolio is doing better than any other since 1999-2000, actually passing a 100% gain recently, although it has dropped back slightly with the market the past few trading days.

Ten years is recent enough for me to remember giving everything back and then some. I'm not doing that again. But what to do? I certainly do not like sitting with a heavy cash position collecting almost nothing. I have recently discussed this issue, see: Serious Money: ETF that's better than cash.

The solution is to find stocks that have low volatility, high yields, and the recurring revenue and strong cash flow to maintain the yield. Long term investors will not be surprised by my search leading me to AT and T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), the two largest communications companies in the land.

The stock market has enjoyed a strong rally the past ten weeks, even with a few very minor setbacks. If you were in the market, you enjoyed it too.

It is more likely that the market will become somewhat volatile for the rest of the year rather than continue to rise substantially, barring some outlier. For this reason I have been emphasizing to our readers that they focus their attention on creating a watchlist of stocks they would like to acquire, potentially at great discount for the long haul.

I started this recent series last week with Serious Money: Keep your eyes on UPS and FDX, focusing on large cap stocks certain to make it through these difficult times.

So spooked by the market that you've withdrawn cash from your investments to stuff beneath your mattress? Or do you simply crumple every mutual fund statement without opening?

Yesterday as I sipped my coffee, Payson Swaffield, vice president and chief income investment officer of Eaton Vance of Eaton Vance (NYSE: EV) in Boston, shared with me by phone some current alternatives in fixed-income investments. There are two worlds of fixed-income investments (bonds, essentially), according to Swaffield. One is very low risk and low return. The other is slightly higher risk but has equity-like return possibilities.

First some definitions: A fixed-income instrument is an investment in a bond or another debt security issued by a government or government agency, such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, a municipality, or a private enterprise. Fixed-income investments have traditionally provided lower volatility than equity investments as well as risk diversification, Swaffield says.

This post is part of a series where personal finance expert Dan Solin looks at money secrets that help the rich stay rich. See them all.

To be a successful investor, you need to know the odds.

Investing is far more important than gambling. Yet most gamblers understand the odds before they place a bet. Few investors understand the odds of achieving a return on their investments.

The odds of shooting snake eyes at a craps table are one in thirty-six.

The odds of winning on one number at a roulette table are one in thirty-eight.

Most investors buy actively managed funds, where the fund manager attempts to beat a given benchmark. What are the odds she will be able to do so?

They are one in thirty-six. Sound familiar?

Almost every broker and many advisors will tell you they can pick stocks that will be winners. What are the odds they can deliver?

This post is part of a series where personal finance expert Dan Solin looks at money secrets that help the rich stay rich. See more.

Most investors don't realize that the biggest factor in reducing their returns are the costs associated with their investments.

These costs include commissions, loads, taxes, advisory fees, market-makers, transfer agents and related costs. When you add them up, they can be very significant, reducing overall returns by as much as 40%!

Actively managed mutual funds (funds that try to outperform a given benchmark) have high turnovers of their portfolios. High turnover generates taxable transactions. The tax hit is carried by the investors in the fund, even when they don't sell their shares.

Here is one example:

The actively managed Fidelity Contrafund had a turnover of 60% in 2006. The passive Vanguard 500 Index Fund had a turnover of 7% during the same year.

This post is part of a series where personal finance expert Dan Solin looks at money secrets that help the rich stay rich. See more.

There seems to be no end of brokers, advisors, and talking heads on television who give advice to guileless investors. They discuss where the markets are headed, what stocks to buy "now," what stocks to sell, and which fund managers are "hot."

They endlessly analyze economic data and interpret it for those of us too unschooled to understand it. They tell us how it affects the markets, and what steps we can take to profit from this knowledge and from their insights.

Often they provide this information in breathless reports delivered from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, which serves to heighten the urgency and importance of their message.

For the most part, they are false prophets. The information they impart is irrelevant to a sound investment strategy. In fact, listening to it and relying on it is harmful to your financial well-being.

Here are some examples:

This post is part of a series where personal finance expert Dan Solin looks at money secrets that help the rich stay rich. See more.

It always seemed to me that most people who said that money can't buy happiness didn't have much money.

It would be more accurate to say that if your unhappiness has nothing to do with money, wealth won't make you happy.

The harsh reality is that most of us need a certain amount of money to pay the bills and hopefully provide for retirement with dignity.

Investors who follow the basic lessons that rich people know will be taking a positive step in the direction of responsible, intelligent investing that will help them maximize their returns.

Really rich people understand that money can't buy health. It also can't buy meaningful relationships with family or friends.

This post is part of a series where personal finance expert Dan Solin looks at money secrets that help the rich stay rich. See more.

Rich people own both appreciating and depreciating assets. They know the difference.

Depreciating assets decline in value.

Appreciating assets increase in value.

It is the appreciating assets that permit rich people to purchase the depreciating assets, and not the other way around.

Rich people get rich by buying assets that increase in value slowly over time. They build up businesses. The buy and hold real estate.

They invest in the stock market differently than most individual investors. They determine their asset allocation and buy and hold a globally diversified portfolio of low-cost stock and bond index funds.