Barbell investing is a strategy that gives you more control over risk in your portfolio and protects you against sudden market downturns that do lots of damage to supposedly save investments. Here’s how it works and how you can use it to improve the safety and performance of your own investment portfolio:

Eli Lilly’s drug, Cymbalta, was approved for lower back pain by an FDA scientific advsory panel. This is a follow up article to the dividend growth article published earlier today at http://physicianentrepreneur.com/?p=834

Companies that pay consistent and growing dividends provide a rising income and are more likely to hold their value in unstable times. Here are some examples — see http://physicianentrepreneur.com/?p=834

Japan’s economy has slowed to third place behind the US and China. The Yen hits a new high and Japanese stocks hit a new low. Massive government intervention is likely but some Japanese companies have done well despite the poor economic outlook. Learn how this will affect you and your investments. Details at http://physicianentrepreneur.com/?p=829

Here are this week’s news items for business and the economy, including the financial crisis in Greece and the Euro zone, banking reform, Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting, and important economic data that will be reported this week. Read on for details, including charts and a video report:

Here is a list of prevailing mortgage rates, updated daily. If these rates are significantly lower than your current mortgage, or you currently have a variable rate mortgage, you may want to refinance to a lower fixed rate.

The new credit card rules that were enacted last year finally took effect on 2/22/2010. Unfortunately the credit card companies had plenty of time to do whatever they could to existing customers, but the new rules do finally offer some protections to both new and existing customers. See the full article with a video report provided courtesy of msnbc at http://physicianentrepreneur.com/?p=712

Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) split its B shares 50 to 1 on 1/20/2010, and the shares have done well since then. The company also purchased Burlington Northern and took Burlington’s place in the S&P 100 and S&P 500 indices. What does this mean to Berkshire’s shareholders? See the full article at http://PhysicianEntrepreneur.com/?p=667 for details and a video interview with Warren Buffett.

It’s earnings report time again and we’re starting to see which companies have been weathering the economic storm. Here are two examples of companies that are showing that they have both strong balance sheets and are a dominant force in markets that offer strong growth. See the full article at www.physicianentrepreneur.com for details.

Target date mutual funds are marketed to people investing to fund their retirement or a planned major event, like a child’s college education. The idea behind a target fund is that its investments are supposed to become more conservative as you reach the target date when you expect to draw on your investment, so that you are less likely to be selling at a loss or in the middle of a downtrend in the value of your investment. It sounds like a great idea in theory – an automatic investment plan designed to put your retirement savings on autopilot. In practice, it doesn’t always work that way – here are some examples and what they mean to you.