Help readers run with the bulls

By flickr.com user mvhargan

With U.S. stock markets continuing to creep upward, pundits are trotting out bullish forecasts and recommendations, such as this one from MarketWatch.

A lot of the buying is being driven by some better-than-expected fourth-quarter corporate profits and upbeat 2010 outlooks by companies ranging from Target to John Deere.  We know how fast all of that can change – especially with consumer sentiment still very cautious, as Friday’s University of Michigan report showed.

But while market gyrations are bound to continue this year, individuals who’ve sat on the sidelines the past couple of seasons may be getting antsy.  And thanks to new-found consumer prudence, they may have money to invest: A Federal Reserve report late last week showed that household wealth in the U.S. actually rose in late 2009 for the third straight quarter, mostly due to a reduction in debt.  It’s still off by more than 20 percent, the Washington Post notes,  from pre-recession levels.  But as more Americans recoup jobs and improve their cash flow, it stands to reason they’ll be looking for a place to stash the dough.

Especially if they read stories like this one from CNN Money, about the alarming state of retirement savings.  Based on a survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, CNN Money reports that 43 percent of those polled had less than $10,000 in retirement funds, with 20 percent saying they had stowed less than $1,000.

Most business writers don’t have the expertise to dole out investing advice, but we can point readers in the right direction.  If your publication doesn’t already run a Q&A column with respected experts providing the “As,” consider volunteering to set up one.  Nitty-gritty advice based on real scenarios draws audiences like few other business features.  Be sure to screen and edit the letters before passing them along to the experts, who should have impeccable credentials – preferably the Certified Financial Planner badge.  Find such planners near you with a ZIP-code search at the group’s national site.  Live chats with planners once a week or so can also boost your online audience.

If you can’t commit to a standing feature, try to squeeze in an investing centerpiece.  Use a framework like “What to do if you’re in your 20s … 30s…40s…” because the time horizon is so important in retirement planning.  Or, you might run a feature on how to rebalance a portfolio that’s way out of whack due to fluctuations in share prices and investors’ reluctance to open their 401(k) statements.

Ask planners to provide real-life, before-and-after, asset-allocation scenarios based on portfolios they’ve tweaked in the past month or two, and make sure to add a few lines of explanation about each change.

If you aren’t comfortable with investing terminology, brush up before tackling this type of story, because nuances count when writing about personal finance.  I highly recommend Morningstar Inc.’s free investing classroom. You must register, providing some personal information, but the 172 self-paced modules will give you the grounding every business writer should have in stocks, bond, mutual funds and other investing