At Morningstar we are continuously working to provide you with investing tips and personal finance help. We are happy to announce the release of our newest booklets geared toward investors of all ages.

The Morningstar Echo Boomer Retirement Guide provides tips for the younger investor with a long investment horizon who's just starting to save for retirement. The Morningstar Baby Boomer Retirement Guide targets those nearing retirement, and The Morningstar Grand Generation Retirement Guide explains to those who are retired how to manage their assets.

To receive a complimentary copy of the E-guides to distribute in your community or use in on-site seminars, simply e-mail libraryservices@morningstar.com.

How does the Nashville Public Library keep its staff from 20 different branches updated with the latest information to better inform its patrons? "We use our intranet and staff-training site to update staff on new databases," says librarian Jennifer Ellis. The "Staff in the Know" training site allows employees to update each other on the newest databases and Web sites. "Plus, staff can comment and help one another or talk about different products and technology."

Morningstar Investment Research Center is just one of the recent additions the Nashville Public Library wants employees discussing. The latest post that Jennifer Ellis created includes an interactive slide show that demonstrates how simple the database is to use.

First, the demo takes staffers through a specific stock search and shows the different features available in the report. Then it goes through a sample stock screen, explains what the different columns mean, reviews the contents available within the stock report, and shows how to print the report. To finalize the post, staff members are left with a challenge: to perform a stock search on their own.

Some posts include interactive slide shows that act as how-to guides for the different databases and Web sites available through the library branches. They also include challenges for the staff to do the searches and other activities on their own so that when patrons have questions, they can answer with an informed reply. These "missions" include saving a file onto a USB flash drive and conducting a search on Twitter. Being able to gain access to these training modules from anywhere allows librarians to learn about the new technology without the hassle of trying to find a date for everyone to meet. As Ellis states, "This has been much easier than arranging an in-person class."

If you would like further marketing ideas or material to help promote Morningstar Investment Research Center at your library—or for materials you can use on your own staff training site—contact us at libraryservices@morningstar.com.

Things don't look so gloomy after the great spring and summer rally we enjoyed. Many say that the market is now fairly valued, so the great fire sale is over.

The economy has improved tremendously but some people expect another slow down. The government has to unwind its huge position in bonds, banks, insurers, and automakers. If all the stimulus works, we might have economic growth but also rising inflation. If it doesn't, we could have deflation and be stuck in a rut like Japan in the 1990s.

When stocks were supercheap and commodities superpricey, there weren't many hedges that I liked, but now it seems reasonable to consider them. Here are some funds that could hold up well if we get a bout of disappointing news.

Harbor Commodity Real Return (HACMX)
If inflation comes back, this fund could provide some protection. I particularly like it for portfolios that are heavily weighted to fixed income and, therefore, are vulnerable to a spike in inflation. Run by PIMCO in a fashion similar to PIMCO Commodity Real Return Strategy (PCRDX), this fund tracks a basket of commodities and then adds in a Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities overlay that effectively gives you exposure to TIPS as well as commodities. We recommend the Harbor fund over the PIMCO fund because of its low expense ratio. Beware of the fund's volatility and be sure to keep it to a single-digit weighting in your portfolio. Ideally, it should be held in a tax-sheltered account.

Hussman Strategic Growth (HSGFX)
This long-short fund takes the edge off market downturns. John Hussman takes long positions in individual stocks but offsets some of that market exposure by shorting indexes. While that has limited the fund's upside, it has made it a standout in difficult times. It lost 9% in 2008 but enjoyed positive returns in every other calendar year since its inception in 2000. The fund's expense ratio recently fell to 1.04%.

Calamos Market Neutral Income (CVSIX)
The implosion of hedge funds makes this fund more appealing. The three Calamoses (Calami?) running this fund employ a strategy that's popular in the hedge fund world: convertible arbitrage. The idea is to find convertible bonds that are cheaper than the underlying stock they convert into and buy the convert while shorting the common stock. They also write covered calls.

When it works, the strategy provides a modest but fairly dependable return. In 2008, the hedge fund collapse and recession hurt the convertible market, and the fund lost 13%. However, it earned positive single-digit returns in the previous bear market, and its hunting grounds won't be so picked over now that the hedgies have gone.

Caldwell & Orkin Market Opportunity (COAGX)
This is the boldest of the funds here. Manager Michael Orkin has wide latitude and can go from 100% net long all the way to 60% net short. He uses a multifactor model to quickly shift among long and short equity positions, bonds, and cash. At the end of July, the fund was 47% long equities, 17% short, 3% in options, with the rest in bonds and cash. Although Orkin sometimes zigs when he should zag, the long-term performance is excellent.

Over the past 15 years, the fund has returned an annualized 9% gain, yet its worst loss was a 6.6% drop in 2003. The fund charges an expense ratio of 1.13% as of October 2008, but when you factor in short interest, that figure pops to 1.95%.

Gateway Fund (GATEX)
Gateway holds about 300 of the 500 names in the S&P 500 and sells S&P 500 call options and buys puts, too. The end result is a fund that brackets the index so that you have limited upside and downside relative to the index. For example, it lost about 14% in 2008, which was a big 23 percentage points better than the S&P 500. But in 2003, it gained about 12%, which was 17 percentage points less than the index. Here's part of the analyst's take by Nadia Papagiannis, our long-short specialist:

This unique fund attempts to generate income on a portfolio of about 300 of the S&P 500 Index's stocks (enough to closely track the index) by writing S&P 500 calls. These calls are "covered" in the sense that any potential losses on the calls (if they are bought back at a higher price or exercised against) should be offset by gains on the portfolio of stocks. If the portfolio of stocks declines, the income received from the calls will offset some of the decline. Furthermore, put options, which give the fund the right to sell the index at a preset price, are bought on a portion of the portfolio, which also protects against downside risk. Its strategy has certainly helped since October 2007: It has lost less than half of what the S&P 500 Index has lost, as it did in August 2000 through September 2002.

A version of this article appeared on Morningstar.com on August 17, 2009.

Is there a company you admire? Is there a business out there you think will be the next big thing? Do you know you could have this company in your portfolio through a mutual fund?

When you invest in a mutual fund, you become a shareholder of a portion of that fund's portfolio. You can invest a little money or a lot, and regardless of how much, your shares represent a miniature portfolio. For example, Dodge & Cox Stock's (DODGX) three largest holdings are Hewlett-Packard Company (HPQ) (4.8% of its portfolio as of June 2009), Schlumberger (SLB) (3.97%), and Wells Fargo (WFC) (3.26%).

If you had invested $1,000 in DODGX, you would own approximately $48 worth of Hewlett-Packard, $39.70 of Schlumberger, $32.60 of Wells Fargo, and so on. In an indirect way, you would own a portion of the 83 stocks in the fund's portfolio.

To see the top holdings and portfolio information for a fund, select the "Portfolio" tab on the left sidebar of a fund's data page. Here you will be able to find market capitalization, valuation figures, and information on the stocks in its portfolio.

Now, what if you don't want to know what stocks a fund holds, but instead want to find a mutual fund that holds a particular company? Let's say you like all the innovations Apple (AAPL) is coming up with and would like to indirectly own this stock through a mutual fund.

You'll first want to type in the ticker symbol in the search box to get to Apple's data page. From there select "Insider Trading" from the left sidebar. Here you will find information on executives and funds with a stake in Apple. You can select different views using the tabs running across the page. This will show you information on which funds are buying and selling shares, and how much each fund has invested in Apple.

For example, T. Rowe Price Growth Stock (PRGFX), as of June 30, 2009, had 5.04% of its net assets invested in Apple. So, using the example above, if you invested $1,000 in this fund, you would indirectly own about $50.40 worth of Apple stock.

If you search for a particular stock holding, I encourage you to spend some time researching the data pages and Analyst Reports to make sure you know the risks associated with each fund. You'll see on the fund owner tabs that we provide you with the Morningstar Rating and a link to the mutual fund data pages so you can easily get more information.