"Not all REITs are created equal," notes Richard Lehmann, who looks at the Neuberger Berman Real Estate Income Trust (NYSE: NRO) in his The ETF Trader.

"The decline in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) has been sharp, reacting to the mortgage crisis and the associated financial meltdown. However, here are sectors of the real estate market that have not been affected by the mortgage crisis.

"Such sectors like health care and multi-family projects and self-storage buildings are relatively less sensitive to the economic cycle. In addition, these sectors may have an inverse benefit from foreclosures such as rental properties and self-storage.

"The Neuberger Berman Real Estate Securities Income Trust fund invests in REITs in defensive areas such as health care and multi-family projects. Common stocks of REITs are trading at a discount to the properties they own, a reversal of premiums evident in last year.

"This closed end fund trades at 9% discount to its net asset value. In essence, a shareholder gets a portfolio of REITs that trade at a discount to their real estate value at another discount. In addition to the double discount, the fund yields an astounding 24.89% paid monthly.

"The fund trades at $7.38 versus its net asset value of $8.11. Should the real estate market see a decline, fund holders are doubly protected by the high yield and double discount. The fund's top holdings are Ventas Inc. (5.7%), Omega Healthcare Investors (4.8%) and Nationwide Health Properties (4.8%)."

Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a daily look at the latest market commentary and favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

"The current market volatility makes us want to run for shelter, a safe haven," notes Richard Lehmann, editor of The ETF Investor. One such haven he sees is health science, and offers an ETF for the sector.

"Other than Treasury bonds, which have their own risks, cash is certainly the safest. One might think of gold or natural resources as a safe haven, but once economies slow down, demand there will fall as well. Either way these safe havens are likely to be volatile in the near future.

"The health care sector is not as dependent on the overall economy and may be a safe harbor for now. There are a number of ETF's and closed end funds that cover this sector.

"The one we find most compelling is the Blackrock Health Sciences Trust (NYSE: BME) mainly because it captures the value in volatility by writing options on their holdings. The option writing activity moderates price swings and adds income to the fund.

"It invests in healthcare providers, healthcare equipment, pharmaceuticals and biotech companies. The fund is currently trading at $27.80 a –6.84% discount from its net asset value. The yield is 5.53%, which helps as an additional cushion. The expense ratio is high at 1.13%, but is somewhat offset by the –6.84% discount from net asset value."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers the latest market commentary and favorite investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.

For 25 years, Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, has surveyed the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is one of 100+ ideas in the Best Stocks for 2008 report.

"My favorite picks for 2008 are two monoline bond insurers: MBIA Inc. (NYSE: MBI) and AMBAC (NYSE: ABK)," says Richard Lehmann, editor of The Forbes Lehmann Income Securities Investor.

"These two companies have been heavily shorted by speculators because of their exposure to subprime mortgage defaults. At current pricing, they are selling at half book value and only three times earnings.

"The reason for current concern is that they will lose their AAA credit enhancement ratings and therefore their ability to conduct new business, something I don't think is likely because there are various remedies to forestall such an event.

"For 2008, the demand for their services should grow substantially since the reliance by lenders on credit ratings alone has been seriously eroded. Also, their insurance of CMOs and CDOs only protect the most senior tier of a multi-tiered debt instrument, so their loss exposure is very marginal and years off.

Two of the savviest advisors around are Mark Skousen and Richard Lehmann. Both are noted experts in income investing and both have recently issued buy recommendations for the same stock.

Skousen, in his High-Income Alert, and Lehmann, in his Forbes/Lehmann Income Securities Investor, both look at Penn West Energy Energy Trust (NYSE: PWE).

Skousen explains, "The dollar continues to slide. Oil is approaching $100 a barrel, and gold, a sign of global instability, now is above $800. And the mortgage credit market continues to soften.

"All of these conditions make it difficult to profit, even in our high dividend-paying stocks. Fortunately, history is on our side. Studies show that a well-diversified portfolio of dividend-paying stocks tend to be more stable during difficult times.

"Our safest position is in oil stocks, so we are going to add another oil & gas stock to our portfolio: Penn West Energy. The trust bought out Canetic recently to create the largest oil and gas trust in North America.

"The combined trust is worth more than $15 billion and has the equivalent production of more than 200,000 barrels of oil a day. Penn West holds interests in western Canadian oil and natural gas pools, along with opportunities in oil sands, coal-bed methane, shale gas, and enhanced oil recovery.

"Penn West is paying an incredible dividend that now is about 35 cents a month, compared to 30 cents a year ago. The company's current dividend yield exceeds 13%."

In the past, Richard Lehmann has recommended positions in both energy and agriculture in his Forbes/Lehmann ETF Investor. His latest recommendation is a single fund that invests in both.

The advisor explains, "We've felt that oil prices would likely continue to remain high, mostly because OPEC has control of supply and has become accustomed to $60 plus oil rather than the old $35 target price."

He adds, "We've also recommended positions in agriculture Fund because distortions caused by increased ethanol production has caused an increase in corn prices, which translated to higher wheat and soybean prices as farmers switched production to corn."

Now, he says, there is a fund that tracks not only agricultural commodities but also energy prices at the same time -- the iPath Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index Total Return ETN (ASE: DJP).

Actually, this "fund" is not an ETF; rather, it is an ETN, or Exchange-Traded Note. Lehmann explains, "ETN's have an advantage over ETF's in that they don't have to pay out distributions and are treated like a zero coupon debt instrument or a promissory note backed by Barclays."

This ETN, he notes, tracks several commodity sectors. According to Lehmann, the fund has 35% invested in the energy sector, 28% in the agricultural sector, 19% in industrial metals and 9% each in precious metals and livestock.

He suggests, "This ETF will tend to be uncorrelated with the broader equity market. Barclays invests in the respective futures contracts and keeps any remaining cash in Treasuries."

Each day, Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com features the latest investment ideas and market commentary from the financial newsletter community.

"Brazil is like a rock, a steady democratic economy expanding under the rule of law," notes Richard Lehmann. Here's an recent pick from his Forbes/Lehmann ETF Investor service.

The advisor explains, "The U.S. looks at Brazil's pledge to end its dependence on foreign oil and sees that they accomplished that goal. The U.S. on the other hand has only paid lip service to and talked about energy independence for the past 30 years, while watching our dependency only deepen."

The strength of the Brazilian economy is in raw materials, he points out, specifically metals and mining. Fortunately, he suggests, worldwide demand for their products has been strong.

The advisor states, "The iShares MSCI Brazil Index (ASE: EWZ) is the only game in town for cost-effective and broad-based exposure to Brazil. As a result, he says, the relatively high .074% expense ratio is worth it. Meanwhile, he notes that the fund --- which holds $2.7 billion in securities -- captures about 85% of the Brazilian market on a cap-weighted basis.

For more stock picks from the leading financial newsletter advisors, visit Steven Halpern's free daily website, TheStockAdvisors.com.

While an individual investor might not be comfortable on their own using a buy-write call strategy income expert Richard Lehmann uncovers a closed-end fund that allows the investor to easily participate in this othereise sophisticated options approach that is used to generate high income.

In his Income Security Advisor ETF Investor he explains, "Buy-write funds have the advantage of moderating market swings because of the covered call writing strategy and because the funds have a yield that tends to support the stock price."

He notes that the BlackRock family of buy-write funds have taken a hit in the last month, which he says is "for no discernable reason." The result? "We think these are great buys at current prices," he says.

In particular, he likes the BlackRock World Investment Trust (NYSE:BWC) which he notes invests in global equity securities, using a buy-writes strategy to enhance its dividend payouts."

According to Lehmann, the fund invests at least 75% of its assets in equities and may invest up to 25% of its assets in income producing securities such as bonds and preferreds. He adds that the fund invests 29% of its funds in the U.S. with the next highest country the United Kingdom at 12%. The remainder is invested in concentrations of less than 8%.

He explains, "The fund writes covered calls on about 45% of its holdings. The fund invests in various sectors with the highest concentration in finance and banking." Lehmann points out that the fund trades at a 3.07% discount to its net asset value and yields 8.32%.

For more stock picks from the leading financial newsletter advisors, visit Steven Halpern's free daily website, TheStockAdvisors.com.

I've just returned from the World Money Show in Orlando where more than 10,000 investors gathered to learn about global investing. I had a chance to meet with many of the U.S. and foreign financial experts featured at the show, and over the next week I will share some of their top investment ideas. To view all of the stocks featured in this special global report, click here.

Richard Lehmann, editor of The Forbes/Lehmann Income Securities Investor, is a long-standing expert in assessing income-oriented stocks. Here, he reviews a pair of global preferreds that he recommends for low-risk investors.

"Aegon N.V (NYSE:AEG) is one of the world's largest global life insurance and pension companies. Their major markets are the United States, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The Aegon N.V. 6.375% perpetual preferreds (NYSE:AEH) were recommended in October 2005 at a price of $25.50 for a then-current yield of 6.25% and a yield to call of 6.15%.

"Aegon recently expanded its operations by partnering with Ranbaxy Promoter Group to jointly enter the life insurance and asset management business in India. This A-rated preferred is currently trading at $25.97 for a current yield of 6.14%.

"The preferred is not callable until 2015 and qualifies for the 15% tax rate. This security is a good investment for low-risk investors and has been added to our Low-Risk Portfolio. Our recommendation is to buy this issue at or below $26.

Each year Steven Halpern, editor of TheStockAdvisors.com, surveys the leading financial newsletter advisors asking for their favorite stocks for the coming year. This article is part of his 24th annual Top Picks Report.

Penn West Energy Trust (NYSE: PWE) is a top conservative idea for 2007 from income expert Richard Lehmann, editor of The Forbes/Lehmann Income Securities Investor. He explains, "I am a steadfast believer in the Canadian oil and gas trusts, despite the Canadian government's decision, on October 31, 2006, to begin taxing the trusts as regular corporations after 2010.

"Currently, the trusts pay out income to investors as dividends and are not taxed on the corporate level. In addition, these dividends are treated as qualified dividend income for U.S. investors and subject to the preferential 15% tax rate.

"Recent proposed changes in the Canadian tax law slammed all trusts and brought PWE down from $37 to a current price of $31. This brings the yield up to almost 12%. I like Penn West because it is one of the largest trusts, with over nine years of proven reserves and extensive holdings of unproven ones.

"They have four years to restructure their finances to offset the increase in taxes -- something that may not even come about if past lobbying efforts are any indication.

"Given that the current dividend represents only 63% of cash flow, the monthly dividend is safe from cuts down to a $50 a barrel price for oil. Investors are likely to sell shares of Penn West to lock-in tax losses in December, but I see price appreciation early in 2007 as investors buy in for the irresistible yield."