We use MacroRisk Analytics to evaluate current macroeconomic trends and identify investments to reduce our clients' overall portfolio risk. The MacroRisk Portfolio Analysis shows how a portfolio is expected to perform relative to current macroeconomic trends.

Municipal bonds have long been a safe haven for higher-income investors looking for safety and greater tax efficiency.

The credit squeeze put the municipal bond market through its paces like other competing markets this past year but, it may be time to take a second look at both municipal bonds and muni bond funds.

It's been a wild start to 2008. When trading reopened on Tuesday after the Martin Luther King holiday, the Federal Reserve Board responded to worldwide market pressures and swooped in with a rate cut to put a floor under the Dow Jones losses that were approaching 20 percent since last October.

That seemed to stabilize things for a short while but within a few days the expectation was that an additional Fed cut would be required. And on it goes, twisting and turning with every bit of positive and negative information.

So what will happen tomorrow? And next week, and the weeks after that?

As with most investments, that question is best answered by determining if an Alternative Investment matches your goals, time frame and risk profile.

First, let's review what are Alternative Investments, why they might be used and the advantages as well as potential risks involved.

Typically Alternative Investments are identified as those which are not traditional equity or fixed income instruments such as company stock or bonds. Alternatives can include real estate or real estate based investments such as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Other investments include commodities, currency contracts, precious metals and a host of other new products such as Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs). As their use becomes more common, the "Alternatives" become mainstream investments and newer instruments take their place.