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.

"For the investor who has some money with which he or she is willing to take some risk, I suggest they take a look at the regional banks ETF iShares Dow Jones US Regional Banks (NYSE: IAT), which I've selected as my top speculative pick for 2008," notes Leonard Goodall, CFA and editor of No-Load Portfolios.

"I recommend this ETF for two reasons, a fundamental reason and a timeliness reason. From a fundamental perspective, most of the regional banks in this portfolio have good solid financials and they know their areas of service well enough to avoid the worst aspects of the current real estate crisis.

"The three largest holdings in the fund -- US Bancorp, Suntrust Bank and PNC Financial -- all have records of consistently improving earnings over the last five years. US Bancorp and Suntrust have raised their dividends each of the last five years, and PNC has raised its dividend in three of the five.

"Purchase of the fund now is timely because its price has been pushed down along with all financial stocks that have been the victim of the subprime mortgage crisis.

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.

"For a conservative investor who wants to incur only low to moderate risk, I would recommend a well-established mutual fund, the Fidelity Puritan Fund (NASDAQ: FPURX), as my top pick for 2008," says Leonard Goodall, CFA and editor of No-Load Portfolios.

"This is a balanced fund, with a portfolio that includes about 67% stocks, 26% in bonds and the rest mainly in cash. A major problem for most mutual fund investors is that the return they actually receive from a fund is well below the announced return on the fund.

"This is because they make bad-timing decisions. They buy the fund after it has run up in price and then sell it after it has suffered a downturn.

"The researchers at Morningstar have produced some work recently that suggests that for balanced funds the return that investors actually achieve is closer to the announced return of the fund than for most other types of funds.

In recent posts, I have reviewed the newsletter advisors' Top Picks from 2007, first highlighting stocks that were in the healthcare, tech, and telecom sectors and then highlighting favorites in the out-of-favor metals and energy areas.

To conclude this review, I'm turning now to the most popular sector in this year's annual Top Picks report -- financial stocks. Of particular note this year is the type of financial stocks that rose to the top of the advisors' buy lists.

In past years, it was routine to see brokerage firms and large cap consumer banks among the Top Picks. This year, only one such company was chosen; Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) was selected as the favorite stock of both Mark Skousen and Kelley Wright.

Outside of Citi, the advisory community looked to an area that has rarely been cited in previous Top Picks reports --specialty finance companies. For example, Gordon Pape selected Brookfield Asset Management, which provides financing to real estate ventures.

Neil George chose a pair of companies spun off from Australia's Macquarie Bank. Both the Macquarie Infrastructure Trust (NYSE:MIC) and the Macquarie Infrastructure Group (OTC:MCORF) provide financing to global road, bridge, and airport development projects.

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.

The iShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index (NYSE: DVY), an exchange-traded fund, is the top conservative idea for 2007 from Leonard Goodall, editor of No-Load Portfolios. He explains, "I like this ETF for two reasons.

"The first reason is that the fund, as the name implies, guarantees a cash flow to investors. The fund's strategy is to buy companies that pay a larger-than-average dividend and that have a record of consistently raising their dividend. The provision of current income is often a high priority goal for conservative investors.

"The second reason is that the fund provides a good probability of achieving capital gains for the long-term investor. There is abundant evidence that dividend-paying stocks outperform other stocks over time. A major reason for this is that dividends provide a cushion against price declines during bear markets.

"ETFs have given the individual investor the ability to target specific needs in a portfolio. This fund was the first of the dividend-oriented ETFs. There are a number of new ones entering the market; this one, however, is established and its annual expense ratio of just .40 is still the lowest available. It has a one-year annual return of 17.1% and a three-year average annualized return of 13.9%."

To see Leonard's favorite speculative ETF for 2007, click here.

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.

MSCI EAFE Value (NYSE: EFV), an exchange-traded fund, is the top speculative selection for 2007 from Leonard Goodall, editor of No-Load Portfolios.

"More aggressive investors should give international exposure to their portfolios, and this exchange-traded fund tracks the value sector of Morgan Stanley's Europe, Australia, and Far East benchmark. Every investor today, from very conservative to very aggressive, should have an international component in their portfolio.

"This fund will enable the investor to profit from worldwide growth patterns, but the fact that it emphasizes the value stocks in the index means that it should also provide some protection against market downturns.

"Because the fund is new, it has no long-term record, but it has a one-year return of 29.9%. Investors should not buy this fund to "chase performance," nor should they expect that return in the future. Rather they would do well to add ETFs to their holdings if they want to build a balanced, well-diversified portfolio."

To see Leonard's favorite conservative ETF for 2007, click here.