Most investors would like a "do over."

They look back on certain investments and wish they'd never heard of, much less put money in them. Sure things like your good friend's invention that would make beer in one day from water and weeds. Or your brother's idea of selling real estate on Saturn. Everyone has their own stories. Mine are usually related to private investments in the medical device field or biotech, though I did have one out of Florida that made a "pig" that ran through oil pipelines to check on their safety. After meeting the founder who looked more like a used car salesman that caught a great sale on polyester suits, I should have known better right then. But I didn't.

Investors searching for opportunities will be hard pressed to find stocks that are still undervalued. It seems like this rally has pushed every sector to very high levels. Perhaps, it may be time to look in more off-the-cuff places for investment ideas.

One possibility trades on the Amsterdam-based exchange, the Euronext. The Dutch insurer, Delta Lloyd Group, which has operations in the Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium, is a profitable company with a favorable balance sheet that trades at a significant discount to its book value. In the first half of 2010, it generated €767 million of income after taxes and non-controlling interests, a 263% increase. At the same time, it has €3,903 billion in tangible assets net of all liabilities, but a market cap of just € 2,810 billion as of January 11. In other words, investing in Delta Lloyd is like buying assets, with all liabilities paid off, at a 30% discount.

It's often said that the best time to buy stocks is when everyone else is selling -- or sitting on the sidelines. That's when you get the best deals. So does that make stocks a good investment for you today?

No question, Americans are still wary of the stock market. The S&P 500 has remained within a narrow range for more than a year. Not surprising given the U.S. high unemployment rate and the fall in values of homes. On top of that, the world is jittery over the debt crisis in Europe, the possibility of inflation in China (even though China so far has not raised interest rates), and skirmishes taking place between North and South Korea. And then there are well-known economists such as Gary Shilling and David Rosenberg who are sounding alarm bells that now is not the time to invest in stocks.

Our recommendations at The Buyback Letter currently focus on a collection of five stocks that we believe, as a group, will outperform the market this month. So far, we have done well. Our Buyback Premium Portfolio is beating the S&P 500 by more than 68% since its inception (August 2, 2000). The portfolio is up 47.53% since inception versus a decline of 20.64% in the S&P 500 over the same time frame. For the month of September 2010, The Buyback Premium Portfolio gained 12.38% vs. a gain of 8.76% in the S&P 500.

So what's our New Premium Portfolio Recommendation? On October 1, we issued a sell recommendation on two stocks Coach (COH) and Health Net (HNT) at market. Now, we recommended using the proceeds and available cash to buy equal dollar amounts of the following two stocks at market:Family Dollar (FDO) and American Financial Group (AFG).

Warren Buffett is widely regarded as the most successful investor of our times. On Monday Becky Quick of CNBC asked him today to reveal the dumbest investment he ever made. Turns out, Buffett says that his own company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), was the dumbest stock he has ever bought.

Why? Buffett explained on CNBC that early in 1962, he came across the textile company, which was constantly closing mills and reinvesting the proceeds in its stock. So Buffett figured he would also buy the stock, tender it to Berkshire's management and make a small profit.

Say you have $20,000 to $100,000 to invest. You can put it in stocks, hope to make a 10% return over time, and if the market moves up, you could walk away with an extra $2,000 to $10,000 before taxes. Or, you could take that same investment, and put it into something that could generate far greater returns.

James Altucher, Managing Director of Formula Capital, says that a better way to reap big returns is to exploit your employer. (See video.)

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovering near 11,000, you may be persuaded that times are getting better and that there is money to be made by investing in stocks. James Altucher, managing director of Formula Capital, believes that stocks are going up. But even so, he says there are better ways to make money.

His suggestion: In the video below, he argues that if you have $20,000 to $100,000 to invest, put your money into something that will make a big change in your life, instead of in stocks. If you are a photographer, for example, buy a top of the line camera. The payoff in producing better photographs should help your photography business far more than putting $3,000 in stocks.

The stock market, the gold market. Both of these have a way of moving well before major economic events are evident. Research suggests the stock market is ahead of the economy by about six months. It moves in anticipation of events rather than actual events. The gold market has its own drummer and moves for its own reasons, in its own time. Stocks and gold are moving now, and they suggest a change in the economy.

First, the stock market continues to gain ground, climbing what is commonly referred to as the "wall of worry." In other words, there's lots to be worried about, but stocks go up anyway. That's because investors are beginning to see some light at the end of the tunnel. And it isn't a train. This week, the official keepers of recession data, the National Bureau of Economic Research, announced the recession ended in June of 2009. Aren't you sorry you missed it?

As stocks continue to soar, with the S&P 500 ($INX) at 1,148 at one point during the day and the Dow Jones Industrial Average up around 200 points just today, investors who think the upward trend will continue may want to consider this: There is very little volume behind the market's move.

My colleague Dan Burrows points out in a story published on DailyFinance, that without volume, market action tells you not want people are doing, but what computer trading is doing.

Stocks continue their winning streak today, with companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG) rising so quickly it almost seems like 1999 over again. But instead of chasing high-profile companies, Hilary Kramer, editor of GameChangerStocks.com, says there are some great opportunities in companies that are growing fast, but still haven't caught the focus on Wall Street.

Among her picks: SatCon Technology Corp. (SATC), which takes solar energy and wind power and uploads those technologies to the smart grid, and Horizon Lines (HRZ), a shipping company with an edge. One of them, says Hilary, could be a ten-bagger.

Gold continues to climb to record highs on Wednesday, boosted by the Federal Reserve's comments that it would continue to ease monetary policy, if needed, to aid the U.S. economy.

While the announcement sent the dollar lower, investors moved into gold and silver, sending gold prices up to $1,296 at one point. The yellow bullion has been a terrific investment this year, with Gold ETFs up about 16%. That beats stocks and bonds.

But what else can investors do to profit?

It appears that online brokerage TD Ameritrade (AMTD) is set for a good day thanks to a weekend feature article from Barron's. The article notes that a "healthy number of individuals continue to indulge a passion for buying and selling stocks, and options and futures on those stocks, on a daily basis."

In fact, the article notes that AMTD clients placed 413,000 trades per day in the third quarter, a company record. Normally, trading volume will slide during the summer months, but this year was worse than previous thanks to the global economic slowdown. The online brokerage realized 12% new assets, which was greater than its yearly target range of 7% to 11%.

Having accepted a speaking engagement at a university school of business recently, I had to think about what introductory information I could impart to the students about investing that would be practical, immediately useful and establish a foundation for whatever direction their paths might lead. This was supposed to be the first in a series. However, since I pull no punches and can be a little edgy in my candor and presentation, who knew if I would be invited back?

My outline had five basic elements. The first thing I told them was to start now!

Warren Buffett once said: "Prior to that, I had been investing with my glands instead of my head." He was referring to his tutelage by his mentor, the great Benjamin Graham, the father of fundamental investing. After learning how to analyze a stock, he realized that he'd been buying stocks more with his emotions than his brains. He put his brain to work, and the rest is history.

Mr. Buffett was saying that he let the sizzle get in the way of judging the quality of the steak. He could see the popping on the grill, smell the meat sizzling, but he wasn't able to judge the quality of the cut. Many investors are still blinded by the sizzle, buying steaks that are mostly fat and not a lot of meat. They need to get beyond their noses and into their brains.

The tail-end summer heat has been heavily attributable to the mergers and acquisitions blaze. Companies are putting their cash to work on public companies fetching discounted equity prices in a market environment favoring safety (e.g., gold and bonds).

Recently, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) edged out Dell (DELL) for the 3Par deal award. With an eye toward the future, HP displayed their powerful desire to own a piece of the data storage and cloud computing pie. Since Dell ended empty-handed, it's only a matter of time before the next stock is a tech heavyweight's prime target.