Here are just a few reasons why I think the time has come to consider investing in oil again:

• There are many potential geopolitical flashpoints around the world that could flare up at any moment and disrupt oil supply.

• Americans have forgotten about past high gas prices and are back to buying SUVs and forgoing the carpool.

• Crude oil prices held up in the face of the recent 12-year lows in the stock market. This is very bullish for oil.

• Most of the world’s cheap oil has already been discovered, and oil exploration companies are drilling in places that are harder to reach. This adds to their costs and results in higher oil prices.

• Soon we could see demand increase to a level that will start to exceed supply. Demand will grow in the years ahead as India and China continue to modernize.

While oil inventories are high right now, they may start to decline toward the end of the year. I suggest you start looking at investing in oil over the next few months and use big down days as buying opportunities.

If you invest in oil, keep an eye on the economy. If the current slowdown gets worse and lasts longer than expected, it could have a negative effect on oil prices. Currently, my technical indicators are pointing to higher oil prices in the near term.

[Ed. Note: Ted Peroulakis has over 14 years of experience in the financial industry and is a top options trader and financial analyst. You can read more of Ted's advice on the most profitable investments in Investor's Daily Edge. Sign up for free here.

Oil isn't the only investment you can profit from in 2009. This June, 9 investment experts will show you exactly how you can make a fortune in today's market. Find out how you can get their top recommendations for making 2009 the best year ever for your portfolio right here.]

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They often are called “wealth boutiques” or “money managers” or “family offices.” I call them “I got a guy” shops. As in, “I got a guy who does international bonds.” Or “I got a guy who does direct commercial real estate.”

“I got a guy” shops boomed in recent years for two reasons. First, they became whispered status goods. If you were truly rich and sophisticated, you didn’t go to Goldman Sachs Group. Any mere multimillionaire could do that. You had to have a “guy.”

To say “I have my money with Wachovia” meant you were a sucker. To say “I’ve got a guy who does my ForEx” meant you were in the know, that you had a dedicated rocket scientist working just for you, even if you didn’t really understand what he did.

The second reason is that the wealthy have become increasingly suspicious of big wealth-management firms and their penchant for pushing complex products the wealthy didn’t need or understand. In this view, Citigroup or J.P. Morgan were touting their latest products to all their clients, but your bond-fund guy was working just for you.

Then Bernie Madoff came along.

Bernie Madoff was the ultimate “I got a guy.” The first time I heard his name was at a Palm Beach charity ball in 2005 when a wealthy Palm Beacher–listening to another gentleman complain about low returns–said “I got a guy who does 10% every year, no matter what.” His name was Madoff, and you had to be invited to invest.

Today, the “I’ve got a guy” model is under attack. And it isn’t just the little-known names along Royal Palm Way. Wealth-management boutiques, smaller hedge funds, private-equity firms and individual money runners of all stripes now will be viewed a little suspiciously.

Before the Madoff scandal, the wealthy were moving their money out of the big brokerage houses and banks and into the small firms. The Madoff scandal may have just reversed the tide. Now the wealthy may start heading back to the big firms for shelter. Big banks call it “flight to quality.” But it is more like flight to a lesser evil. You can go to “your guy” and risk losing everything. Or you can go to a big name and risk losing just part of it.

Some choice.

So who has time to research stocks and mutual funds thoroughly… I damn sure don’t.

For example, if you invest in stock or mutual funds they are certain rules of investing we must follow. If you invest in stocks you must check to see if it has a good track record, if its mutual funds you must read and the prospectus carefully before you invest.

Below, I have listed Moolah’s 10 special tips on how to start investing that will help current and future investors along the way. Now, don’t get it twisted, these ten tips on investing are not the Bill of Rights of investing, or the 10 commandments. These tips are just my simple ways that will keep you ahead of the game, and provide good results in the future:

Tip 1: Know your risk tolerance: There’s an easy way to figure this out when dealing with investments, and that is after making that investment can you sleep at night? What I mean is when it’s all said and done, are you internally ok with your decision. My dad used to always tell me if something you’ve done keeps you up at night, it’s probably not right. So bottom line is if you can’t honestly live with the investment you’ve made, wake up the next day and get out immediately.

Tip 2: Join or Start an Investment Club: I’ve been part of my investment club for about 5 years now, and if it wasn’t for my group I wouldn’t be where I’m at right now with my investments. What’s better than meeting up with like minded people like yourself, and bouncing tips and strategies with one another? You could start a group with a few relatives or friends, and each member would get to research their own area of interest and give feedback to the group. This will create a better portfolio, and since everyone will be investing in the same pot, you money will grow faster. Basically like the old saying says “Two heads are better than One”.

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Tip 3: Stop acting like a day trader, and take a long term view. Unless you’re an aspiring day trader, or one already you should leave the instant tickers alone! Set a schedule to check you stocks like once a week, or every Monday morning and Friday evening. The reality is when your learning on how to start investing you will understand the stock market moves constantly with or with our knowledge. Keep to the buy and hold strategy and check you stocks periodically. Now, this doesn’t mean to buy stocks and forget about them. You need to check your stocks, and gauge their performance.

Tip 4: Invest regularly. Before going out to invest, one of my main tips of investing is to set out an investing plan. For example, set a plan to buy a few stocks per month or every other month, and stick to that plan no matter what. Historically, the key is to invest in small increments rather than one lump sum. Using this method, will achieve dollar cost averaging in the prices you pay.

Tip 5: Solid Research- not “quick tips” is the way to go. Don’t fall prey and listen to a financial analyst or colleagues telling you about a hot tip. 9 out 10 times, these stock tips will put you on your a$$. One rule of investing you should is to always avoid those stocks that Wall Street loves, because the reality is by the time you hear about it, the well has probably run dry. The key is to continue to do your solid research, and keep course with you investment plan.

Tip 6: Invest In What You Know: I have a background in technology and accounting, but a friend of mine recently gave me a stock tip to invest in a pharmaceutical company that is suppose to be coming out with a new wonder drug. Do you go out and invest in that stock? Yes, by all means go do a little research on the stock to see what the stock is all about, and if it makes sense to you. If you can’t make sense of it, stay away from it. Invest in stocks that make sense to you or in stocks where you good knowledge of. Take a page from Warren Buffet who never invested in areas he wasn’t knowledgeable about. A final note, that tip that my friend gave me has dropped by 30% in the last six months.

Tip 7: Have a Balanced Portfolio. You can build a successful portfolio over time if you spread you money over a number of different kind of investments. You should allocate a certain percentage to stocks for growth, bonds and CD’s (certificate of deposits) for income, treasuries and municipal bonds for tax advantages and safety. You could also have a few money market accounts for obtaining quick cash when needed. Balancing your portfolio will provide growth with your investments, and will lessen the effect of your losses.

Rule 8: Make Compounding Your Friend! A lot of people have believed and put into their heads that to make money in investing you have to start off investing with a lot of money. All I to have to say to that thinking is balderdash!! If you used the law of compound interest, and started investing just one dollar everyday for the past 30 years. You would have over 45,000 in your investments right now, assuming you made a yearly average 8% on your money.
Now the key question is how can you guarantee that I will make 8% on my investment every year? The answer is that I can’t guarantee you anything, but what I can tell is there will be good years where you will earn 10% to 20% on your money, and there will bad years where you only earn between 4% and 5% on your money. That’s why we say 8% because that’s an attainable return on your money. So strive for that!

Tip 9: Watch out for Company Stock. Here’s a scenario, you’ve been working for a company for the past 15-20 years. The company is doing well so they say… and you have invested all your retirement funding into this company that you trust and know so well. You wake one morning, and go to work and low and behold, you see the doors are locked. Can somebody say Bear Stearns and Enron! My advice to you is do not put your entire savings and retirement in the trust of one company. Unless your one of the head honchos of the company, and you know when the bottom is about to fall out right under you, I would only invest a small portion of your company’s stock in your portfolio.

Tip 10: If you can’t afford to lose it, don’t use it! Now I want you to listen and listen well Lassie…If your financial planner, or accountant, or your brokerage firm tells you investing with them will eliminate risk, and there not talking about treasuries or CD’s… Run for the hills! Every investment and I mean every investment carries some form of risk. So if you really don’t have the money to invest, because you’re in debt up to your eyeballs, by all means don’t invest in the stock market. Take care of your debt, and start planning to invest sometime in the future.

One example I can give you is from an investment I made a few years back. A friend of a friend (which is never good to begin with) was starting an investment group. The initial investment was $2500 to get in, with the potential to make 10x your investment within 5 years. So I did my research and decided to take the plunge and invest with his investment group.

Well, fast forwarding to present time, I would love to tell you that I made a return on my investment back and then some. But the reality is that I pretty much lost my $2500 investment. Supposedly the leader of the investment group fell on some hard times, and skipped town. Am I upset that I lost my money? Of course I am, but I knew the risk I was taking, and I could afford to lose the money. Now if I had invested 5-10K, I probably would be trying to chase this guy down and to give him the Bautista Bomb (I just love wrestling…lol) to his cranium!

So what’s the moral of the story? One, don’t invest it if you can’t afford it. And two, don’t ever invest money with a friend of a friend. But if can afford to invest, even if it’s just a little, you will be on your way to building some wealth.

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Rule 7- Embrace Diversity: Take a lesson from the recent Bear Sterns crash. A tragically large number of Bear Sterns employees, who were guilty of nothing, other than trust had sunk away the entire or most of their portfolio with the company. Many times this strategy works, and many employees in the past went on to take on an early retirement.

However, companies do fall and crash at times. Can anyone say Enron!! Before their 2001 crash, they claimed they were the “greatest company in the world”. A few months a later major accounting irregularities are reported about the company and all hell breaks loose. The stock plummets, everyone at the top bails, and the only one left stranded were the 1000 or so employees who invested their entire life savings into this so called great company.

I say this to say regardless of how confident or knowledgeable you are in one particular stock, you should always have protection. You protect yourself by diversifying your money throughout different investment vehicles(stocks, mutual funds, real estate, bonds, cash).

Many newbie investors think diversifying only guarantees little returns. They look at diversification as comprosing, and more of a defensive stance. That maybe true but stocks rise and fall at different times, all the time. So it is better to have your investments spread out between two of three solid companies instead of one. Also diversifying your portfolio within two or three financial sectors is also a good thing.

One thing is for sure and that is change is a constant thing in life, especially in the financial industry. There will always be forces or changes that are beyond your control. So prepare yourself and start diversifying.