I volunteered to do the research on commodities in my portfolio class because I'm familiar with most other types of investments and I know little about commodes (har har). Also, I hate bonds. I wanted to be able to tell you that I bought some pork bellies, but alas, it won't be so. Instead I will recommend managed futures, which is like a mutual fund of various commodities in order to minimize risk and avoid putting all of your pork bellies in one basket.

The question I have for every analyst I meet is: "How can I get a rate of return between 7% and 10% but still keep my investment liquid?" In other words, I am looking for something different than a savings account, MMA or CD that has a better rate of return, yet I can still fish the money out in a few days' time. I haven't received too many good answers to that question. Bonds have been sucking lately; my MMA pays better than most bond funds do, currently. Munis are tax-free, but are only paying around 3-4%. Blah.

A year ago I bought into a closed-end ETF that pays around a 9-9.5% dividend, and that means a better tax rate, too. However, the 4.5% front end load set me back for about a year before I start making money. (Yeah, I know that one half of 9% is 4.5%, and that should take six months to recoup, but the share price dropped after I bought into the fund.) This is a decent 3 to 5 year investment, but isn't liquid until then, without taking a loss or turning the venture into a waste of time.

Thus, the search is still on for the right investment for my current needs. What I want probably doesn't exist; it's like saying, "How can I make a million bucks and double it in two years while investing pre-tax dollars and taking the money out tax-free with zero risk?" Haha. Pipe dream.

I enjoy this stuff. Yes, I'm exploring finance careers. Maybe I can be the next "Jamie" Cramer.