Massachusetts Land Court judge Keith C. Long recently ruled that foreclosure sales of two properties with securitized mortgages were invalid, a decision that ties up thousands of Massachusetts real-estate transactions.

In the ongoing battle between Wall Street, the Obama administration and the public interest, it will be interesting to discover whether the United States has a true free market.

With all the financial woes in the global economy, the worst thing an investor can do is to "freeze up." With all the ups and downs in the market, it's all too easy for investors to allow their emotions to take control. That's when the smallest mistakes turn into the biggest mistakes.

There's one antidote for this problem ... remembering a few basic rules. Just embrace the 10 ideas that follow and you'll be in line to make some serious money in the months ahead.

By now virtually every investor has heard the argument that the U.S. dollar is slated to lose its status as the global reserve currency. And that's good - as far as it goes.

What's bad is that many of these investors have yet to latch onto the fact that this could happen much sooner than many people realize and in a manner that will catch most by surprise.