3 Make Money Opportunities in 2009

If only it were that simple, right? These days you can't turn on the television without news of foreclosures, company bailouts, stocks tanking and consumer confidence plummeting. Yet where most continue to see this as an indication that the economy is hurting, The Monetizer suggests you look for the economy's golden opportunities. The flipside is of course, finding money to buy into those opportunities.

Here's 3 ways you can profit from the down economy, if of course you do your research and make good, calculated risks:

1) Invest in stocks - Stocks are especially beaten down right now and as Warren Buffet suggests you want to be greedy when others are fearful. This means don't view the low stock prices as a sign our economy will completely die. View it with more cautious optimism that there's some great deals to be had and money to be made. I can't suggest any stocks in particular, but look for names you know of well-built companies. High dividend paying stocks are always a great long term investment strategy, especially if you have the dividends reinvested.

I still like a company called Buyandhold.com which allows small-wallet investors to buy or sell stocks for $2.99 a trade. The catch with that is you can only buy during 3 different time slots a day, versus having the flexibility of real-time trading. Nonetheless, with Buyandhold.com you could begin to build a nice sized portfolio, whether it be an IRA for retirement or a regular account to build up a nice sum. Sharebuilder.com is another website with low buy and sell plans, worth checking out, or you could use one of the big boy brokers such as e-trade or Charles Schwab. Do your homework with well-known stock sites such as Smartmoney.com, CNN Money or Motley Fool to get ideas of what others recommend for investments.

2) Invest in Real estate - This is one area in which opportunities are presenting themselves daily. Foreclosures abound and according to some reports people are able to snatch up homes for pennies on the dollar. This one obviously will take a lot more funds than ideas 1 or 3, but possibly people begin networking to invest in real-estate, combining their funds to make wise buying decisions. It seems as if there may be a profitable business idea in some sort of program to help struggling mortgage-payers afford the payments until they can do so by themselves. Either way, I've seen many reports on the news and early shows about great housing deals out there. Those who know how to spot opportunities will most likely become quite wealthy if they buy now and sell later.

3) Start up a full or Part-time business - Whether it be a home-based ebay business, buying a franchise, inventing something, or doing something you love, some say right now is the best time to start. Others say it doesn't matter when you start, which could be true depending on the idea. With the economy down you can snatch up better deals on things you might need to get the business going. For example, the ebay business is a great idea right now if you can afford to bargain hunt. Between people having yard sales to generate income and retail stores slashing prices to move merchandise you can flip plenty of profitable products. With any other business they say if you get off the ground during rough economic times you can profit many times over when the economy starts to do well again.

Friends I encourage you to not ignore the news of the economy completely because that's going to be with us for some time. At the same time, when things are looking and sounding bleak you can use that adversity to spot opportunities and start making money. The next great ideas just might be born out of these trying times, and you just might be the one to do it!

As always party responsibly into the New Year...I wish everyone a happy, healthy and profitable 2009!