For anyone interested in finance and personal solvency, the first decade of the millennium was eventful if nothing else.

It started out on a high over the Internet business boom, and then more or less, things started steadily heading downhill – the dot com bust, the housing market collapse, the stock market collapse and the collapse of everything else that was left standing. The last year of the decade though began with things distinctly looking up; and cautiously speaking, it does look like the recovery might stay the course. But you know, I’ve been through so much through the last ten years – what with the Federal Reserve god Alan Greenspan just shrugging his shoulders and saying “Who knew?” – I’m not about to warmly trust my life to anything the suits say anymore. As much as they would like us to believe that there won’t be any terrible news with a market collapse anymore (there was another one-day collapse in May), I would still like to watch my own back. To me, going back to a more conservative era of personal finance wisdom makes a lot of sense. To me, investing for stock dividends make a lot of sense.

The way it’s been all these years, all we need is to hear a new investment buzzword, and right away we are on it like they were giving money away for free. Stock dividends have been around for so long that it’s kind of hard to turn it into a buzzword. The whole concept has been languishing in anonymity for a long time. That’s what old people invest in – they don’t game the market, they don’t do investment tight ropes to make a hundred thousand bucks overnight – they just sit there and wait for the companies to pay a dollar on each share they own once in a way. As much as you want to ridicule the idea of waiting around for stock dividends, they are in fact an important part of every conservative and prudent investing system ever known of. Just look at where it got the country – going for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow over last ten years. If it wasn’t buying housing stocks, it was buying Internet companies or other tech companies. It’s been an absolute disaster though trying to second-guess the market and find a new cheap investment that you think is the next big thing.

On the other hand, any standard portfolio of a dozen stocks that will pay you dividends, has actually appreciated more than 10% over last ten years. Investing for dividends can be such a rewarding and liberating experience. For one thing, there is nothing you actually have to do watching the markets; finding the right time to sell is just not your business anymore – they actually pay you stock dividends just for letting your investments gather dust in your drawer. And the dividends, as modest as they are, do accrue to a tidy sum. The way these companies work, they know that if they pay you a dividend one year, you will completely expect them to pay you in the same way every single year. They wouldn’t offer to pay you even one year, if they didn’t think they could keep it up every single year. That certainly should tell you how confident they are of the financial health the company will be in in the future. Moreover, all you need do is to look at how the company has done with its payouts the last few years. Any company that keeps up its slow and steady word over a number of years, is undoubtedly reliable. How can you not respect a company that can train a new generation of managers every few years to keep to the same slow and steady path of progress as the earlier one?

Still, as dependable an indicator as stock dividends are of a company’s intent and ability, you can still go wrong with this. Take Citigroup for instance; they paid high dividends for years and years, until they completely went kaput and crashed. Actually, a company that pays out really high dividends can be less than trustworthy. Right now, I’m looking at Chevron and the power company Exelon. They are paying out in excess of 3% in stock dividends now, which is about average. That’s actually a good sign.

A stock broker who services individuals is also known as a financial advisor. The job of a personal financial advisor is to provide you with investment advise in the context of your overall financial plan.

Stock brokers who are also personal financial advisors will not just ask you how much money you have to invest and set about to invest it in the most promising products; they will first do a careful analysis of your cash flow, you revenues, your expected advancement, and take into consideration your financial objectives. Through forms and interviews with you, he will gather the data he needs to analyze your financial condition and its prospects. He will use gathered information to locate opportunities suited to your financial situation, come up with a plan to introduce you to these opportunities, and will then manage them for optimal performance.

Some financial advisors will also plan and manage other areas of your financial life besides investments, although most financial advisors stick to investments. They may provide additional services to provide consultation for tax planning, insurance, the buying of businesses, planning for children’s education, and estate planning. All parts of your financial life impact the bottom line; having a financial advisor who also attends to areas besides investments will probably result in a better integrated plan for you and your family.

The majority of those who call themselves financial advisors are essentially stock brokers. They are best found among the big corporations that, in the United States, have registered with the Security and Stock Exchange Commission (SEC) as an investment advising firm. They may also be registered by a state. If you are hiring a financial advisor primarily for investment management, you will want this advisor to be a member of a registered firm. Don’t fault stock brokers who are not with a large firm that is registered with the SEC; a firm that’s registered with the SEC must have over $25 million in assets that are under management. Just because they are managing a lot of assets doesn’t mean they’re doing a good job of it. There are smaller firms that out-perform them. Startup companies may have some very talented stock brokers, yet these will at least be registered as a financial advisory business in the state in which they do their business. Whether you go with a big firm stockbroker or a small firm ones, be sure they’re registered.

You don’t have to be rich to enlist the services of a financial advisor, but you should be aware that some will cost more than others. Stock brokers are paid either a flat fee or a percent of earnings (usually not more than 1.5%). If you go with one who earns commissions and that broker does a marvelous job, you could be paying him more than if you went with a fee only stock broker. On the other hand, if you pay a fee and your stocks do poorly, you’ll still have to pay the fee. Some people prefer commissioned brokers since they have something at risk.

Whether fee or commission paid, stock brokers will have the inside on the products out there and the means to obtain them quickly for you. If you’re considering your financial future now and think investments will generate the income you need, by all means, find a financial advisor with an expertise in investments. When those returns start to build up, as your reinvestments begin to pay, as that cash account gets fatter and fatter, you’ll be glad you did.

If you had only little money to invest, and you had a relative tell you that you needed to go with top billed – even if you only get a couple of shares for your capital;, would you do it?

Or would you try to look for a riskier company that was down on its luck but made a great bargain? What is it that makes cheap shares from a luckless company a good bargain nevertheless? When people try to evaluate companies like this for their potential, there is an area they often neglect to look closely at – their cash reserves. A company that has somehow fallen out of grace with its customers and lost its touch in its business can still exercise lots of options if it has a reputation, and a ton of cash to take advantage of it with. These make for the best stock investments when you are not doing that well yourself.

There are several companies around that fit this description -companies that can use their cash reserves to tread water for some time while they get their problems sorted out. Here are a handful of companies that trade now for five dollars a share; each one is a world-famous, respected multinational corporation with an overarching presence the world over. Thy are leaders in their trade, if not in their business at the moment. At five dollars a share, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little faith. Some mythically great investors like Warren Buffett for instance, made a name for themselves swooping in on shares of companies like this. To lesser mortals like you and me, these are the best stock investments today for just a little outlay.

Alcatel Lucent is a world beating telecommunications business. Most of the cell phone towers you see craning up off rooftops (anywhere around the world) are probably ones set up by these people. They are losing their marketing touch now, and aren’t on top of their game. But there’s every reason to believe that they’ll get there again; you could get two of their shares for five dollars. Oh, and did he realize that most of the price of the share comes not from the value of their business, but for pure hard cash?

Sprint Nextel is a household name around the country for prepaid cell phones; the company has invested heavily in its networks, and has run up more than $20 billion in debts; but with a cash pile worth $4 billion, it’s not in any danger any time soon, and it wouldn’t hurt to bet on it with 2 1/2 shares for your five dollars.

Do remember that you used to see advertisements for Novell all over the place a while ago? Whatever happened to them? This multinational hardware and software company that makes specialized operating systems for large corporations, is in no debt, but it isn’t a tech powerhouse like IBM either. They are trying to focus on going open source Linux and on making their profits there. You’ll get one share for five dollars, and you’ll be getting a stake in their proprietary operating system software. Everyone expects them to find their feet again once they are properly established in open source.

But we could move away from the tech companies and look at something alternative for the best stock investments you can find for a little cash. Wendy’s, the fast food chain, is a particularly tasty investment. They have a massive presence all over, and their dollar menus are well loved. The company’s founder passed away nearly 10 years ago, and the company has been struggling to find its true calling ever since. It’s been acquired by Arby’s, a holding company that buys into food businesses and turns them around. They’ve been doing a great job at cost cutting, and they seem to be on their way up again. The company has cash reserves of more than half a billion, and you could get one share for five dollars. I’d bet on a good mouthwatering burger any day.