Ted Allrich is the founder of The Online Investor and author of the just released book: Comfort Zone Investing: Build Wealth And Sleep Well At Night. In this weekly column, he'll offer advice to investors who are just getting started.

Every investor would love to own a stock that doesn't have surprises, makes earnings grow every quarter and raises the dividend annually. At least sane investors do. Others go after hope and promises (no profits yet, but coming, we promise) and sleepless nights. This column isn't for them. It's for the ones looking for a stock that doesn't exist.

If there's ever been a final nail put in the coffin of the myth that there's a stock that couldn't possibly fail, it's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wielding the hammer. Every respected columnist and pundit wrote glowingly of these two a year ago. How well capitalized they were. How large they were. How they were the engine that made the mortgage market go. And above all else: they had the implied guarantee from the Federal Government behind them AND THAT THEY COULDN'T BE ALLOWED TO FAIL. There was no way they could fail. No way.

Now we know different. They haven't failed, but shareholders have a hard time finding solace in shares selling for 85 cents a share, ones they bought at $35 a share last year. Many people will say: serves them right. They took a risk, and it didn't work out. If these two giants had made money, shareholders would have made money as well. No question. In the stock market, you take a risk for the reward. Sometimes you take it for the loss.