WITH STOCKS tanking recently in places like India and Brazil, investors may be cautious about investing abroad. But many experts say that this is no time stay at home. In an era when markets are becoming increasingly global, investors should put at least 30% of their equity portfolios in foreign stocks.

AS MORTGAGE defaults increased last year, the markets took unnerving turns. Panicked investors raced to buy Treasuries and sell securities that seemed to present risks.

WHAT ARE the chances that one of your funds will return 100% this year? Extremely slim. Few funds rise 50%, let alone double in a 12-month period.

THE WHIMS of markets change constantly. One year the crowd favors technology companies, and then the mood shifts and the next year investors embrace shares of banks.

MILLIONS OF investors have been racing to buy exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Like index mutual funds, ETFs track benchmarks, such as the Standard Poors 500-stock index. But ETFs trade constantly on stock exchanges, while mutual funds are priced once a day.

ALL TOO MANY investors face a common experience: They buy a top fund, and then the manager leaves. The new manager cant match the old results.

ALPINE DYNAMIC Dividend, a stock fund, is yielding 9%, not counting capital gains. This is more than four times the paltry 1.8% dividend payment of the average large U.S. company. And Alpine is not alone. Eaton Vance Dividend Income pays 8%, and a dozen other stock funds yield 6% or more.

A FEW years ago traditional phone companies seemed on the verge of extinction. Instead of using landlines, more callers were turning to cell phones. Cable companies were beginning to offer cheap phone service along with television. Free calls via the Internet were on the horizon. But some traditional companies have fought back, cutting costs on landlines and expanding their own cell phone operations.

IF YOU’RE worried about the cost of your children’s higher education, Uncle Sam has a nifty solution: 529 plans. The accounts are sound vehicles for paying tuition bills. And for high-income households, 529s have an additional appeal: under the law, you can put up to $10,000 a year into a tax-sheltered account that will pay for a child’s education.

WHEN FIDELITY’S giant Magellan Fund changed managers a year ago, many shareholders applauded. Under the old manager, the fund produced mediocre results. So how is the new fellow doing?