This post is part of a 12-article feature that can be read here: Today's best income ideas.

"Though all the king's horses and all the king's men attempted to piece together some confidence in the market indexes, it hasn't been enough," says Brandon Clay.

In his Invest with an Edge, he suggests, "Investors should consider safe alternatives for this risky environment. One such ideas is a unique muni bond ETF -- Market Vectors Pre-Refunded Municipal Index Fund (NYSE: PRB)."

This post is part of a 12-article feature that can be read here: Today's best income ideas.

"We're riding the coattails of the federal government as Uncle Sam continues to purchase mortgage-agency debt while driving longer-term mortgage rates lower," says Eric Roseman.

In yield-oriented advisory -- Accelerated Income -- he looks at Blackrock Income Trust (NYSE: BKT) which seeks to provide "high monthly income while preserving capital by investing in a portfolio of mortgage-backed securities."

For the first time ever, the number of millionaires in the world broke through the 10 million mark last year. All said and done, the total number of people who can claim to have $1 million in the bank grew to around 10.1 million people, and on average, these lucky few boast around $4 million in net worth.

While the number of people in the "millionaires club" is definitely impressive, they still do not have to worry about the clout of their $1 million claims being diluted just yet. Ten million people may sound like a lot, but when you consider the world's total population is currently running at around 6.7 billion, you find that the percentage of all people on the planet who can claim to have $1 million is less than 0.2%. So don't feel too bad if you are not part of the club just yet.

As in the past, the majority of millionaires have an American address, with one out of every three millionaires being American. But there are a few other areas of the world where growth is out-pacing the United States. Developing economies in India, China and Brazil resulted in huge growth in those countries, especially in India, where the number of millionaires rose by about 23% last year alone.

With treasury yields well below 4%, and even decent corporate paper not yielding much better, the question I keep hearing from my elderly clients who live off of their investment income is where are they going to get the income needed to meet their expenses. Thrown into the mix that, in four years million and millions of baby boomers are set to retire, so they will also need to start adjusting their portfolios to be more income oriented. I anticipate that we will see continued demand for high-rated bonds and, as such, I can't imagine that we will see yields back above 6% on good corporates.

What to do? The answer to that question is more involved than this space permits, but take a look at preferred stock to help supplement income. My buddy, Zack Miller had a nice post about this a while back. The problem with preferred stocks is that it's hard to get information on each issue and the terms of the issue. Also, liquidity can be an issue. That's why I like the POWERSHARES ETF TRUST (AMEX: PGF). The ETF is well diversified as it holds about 28 issues. More important is that it is yielding a shade under 7%. With preferreds having been slammed over the last few months, there may be some opportunity for some capital gains as well.

Living off fixed income? Check out preferred stocks.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. DISCLOSURE: Writer has a position and is long PGF. He has no positions in any stock mentioned as of 1/27/08

Many investors over the past couple of months, sensing volatility in the market, have been rebalancing their portfolios away from stocks and toward fixed income. Last week, we saw people stepping up and buying preferred stocks as well.

Interesting enough, finding a good list, database, or general resource for preferred stocks is not so easy. (Good idea for a start-up, anyone?)

So, when I came across investingfromtheright's blog post yesterday about a new-ish Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) from PowerShares called PowerShares Financial Preferred Portfolio (AMEX: PGF), it piqued my interest.

From the blog post, I learned the following:

The head of State Street's (NYSE: STT) investment unit has resigned, the company announced Thursday. It also said that it will set aside $618 million, including $279 million, or 71 cents per share, to establish a fund to cover legal and related costs due to losses in its fixed-income strategies.

State Street said William Hunt, CEO of State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), was replaced by James Phalen on an interim basis. Phalen will report directly to State Street's CEO, Ronald Logue.

"We have reviewed the actively managed fixed-income strategies at SSgA that contained investments backed by sub-prime mortgages. Based on our review and discussions with certain customers who were invested in these strategies, we have established this reserve to address legal exposure and other costs relating to these strategies," Logue said in a statement.

Including the aforementioned earnings charge, 2007 earnings per share are expected to be $3.42-$3.45. Excluding the charge, 2007 earnings per share are expected to be $4.54-$4.57. The Reuters 2007 EPS consensus estimate for STT is $4.20, excluding charges.

Relief rally?

Wall Street's reaction to State Street's announcement was decidedly not negative, as State Streets' shares gained more than 5% or $4.72 to $83.61 in Thursday morning trading.

Financial powerhouse Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LEH) reported its second quarter earnings this morning and handily beat Street estimates. Lehman reported earnings per share of $2.21 versus last year's $1.69. The Street estimates called for earnings per share of $1.88.

Lehman reported strong trading revenues and investment banking revenues as well. Lehman's only weakness for the quarter was its fixed income division, which was actually down 14% year-over-year. The company cited the continued weakness in the mortgage markets that held back its growth. Had Lehman experienced similar growth in its fixed income division as the other components of the company, the numbers would have been even stronger, by far.

On deck for this Thursday is The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) second quarter earnings report. Consensus is for $4.79 earnings per share according to Thomson Financial. Goldman does not have as prolific of a fixed income operation as Lehman Brothers, so its exposure to mortgage market weakness should be at a minimum. One would conclude that if Lehman comfortably beat estimates, then Goldman should follow suit with an even larger beat. The fixed income drag for Lehman, however, did highlight the incredible momentum in its other business lines.

Goldman should handily exceed expectations on Thursday and the stock is already up 1% on the Lehman report and its own anticipated earnings release..

Georges Yared is the CIO of Yared Investment Research.

U.S. government bonds have plunged in recent weeks, dragged down by worries over inflation, rising interest rates overseas, an apparent buyer's strike by some foreign central banks, and hedging by traders in other fixed-income markets.

However, a number of technical indicators suggest the selling may be overdone, at least in the short-term.

Using the iShares Lehman 20+ Year Treasury Bond Fund (AMEX: TLT) as a proxy, the accompanying chart indicates that bond prices are near levels that have provided solid support over the past five years.

Volume has also spiked, suggesting that the most recent leg down represents a "selling climax" of some sort.

Finally, momentum, in the guise of 14-day RSI, a popular technical indicator, is at its lowest reading since the exchange-traded fund was first listed, signaling that that the market has likely gone too far, too fast.

While there are various signs that the long bull market in bonds could be over and that yields are now in the early stages of a secular uptrend, the immediate technical evidence nonetheless suggests that bond prices -- and the Treasury Bond ETF -- are poised for a decent bounce.

Michael Panzner is a 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets and the author of Financial Armageddon: Protecting Your Future from Four Impending Catastrophes and The New Laws of the Stock Market Jungle: An Insider's Guide to Successful Investing in a Changing World.