You can win at the wealth-building game.  The truth is, that for most people who succeed at it, growing wealthy isn’t a matter of genius—or even of luck.  To become financially well-off, you need a much more basic ingredient—one that, I’m happy to say, is within reach of nearly all of us.

The recent nail-biting volatility in the stock market has taken its toll on a great many investors' nerves. But nobody feels a sharper uh-oh twinge than folks who are nearing or, actually in, retirement. The reason is bedrock simple: Because retirees are no longer drawing a paycheck, they face the daunting task of repairing a major hit to their overall net worth. Amid the doom and gloom, however, I am spotting a few glimmers of light on the horizon to insulate your portfolio…

Discover seven simple things you can do to set yourself on a more prosperous track this year. Pick a couple of actions from the list, then go to work immediately. You'll notice that each item on my list requires only one step. No follow-up necessary. If you act now, you can sit back and watch the benefits accrue throughout the rest of the year. Ready to rock? Here we go.

The fourth-quarter subprime write-downs are a long way from being over, and for some of us, the next year is going to feel like the Great Depression. However, for a select few, these Wall Street growing pains will turn into golden opportunities, and you will enjoy tremendous gains in your portfolios—if you know where to look. There are three prime industries that investors need to focus on in 2008 to uncover a few gems that have been hiding in plain sight. Find out what they are here.

Ever wonder why I harp on the importance of "buying the dips" rather than chasing markets upward? Well, over the past two weeks, the stock market offered textbook proof. We all finally saw what the Federal Reserve had up its sleeve in terms of a global solution to the subprime mortgage crisis.

Now, I didn't expect this gift from the Fed to please everyone. But, to be completely honest with you, I also didn't expect Wall Street to react quite so violently to the Fed's decision to lower overnight interest rates by "only" a quarter-point (to 4.25%). Most economists were predicting a move of 25 basis points, rather than 50. So 25 hardly came as a surprise, much less a shock.

The Fed's latest move should calm the nerves of investors who fear an implosion of our financial system, and right now we're witnessing a lot of irrational, crowd-driven behavior in the financial markets. But what is the real moral of this drama on Wall Street? Short-sighted investors always press the panic button whenever they feel that the nation's central bank isn't doing enough to boost the economy. As a long-term investor, don't let these sudden jolts throw you. The smart course is to accelerate your buying, as the market corrects itself, scoop up some amazing year-end bargains.

With the Dow gyrating wildly and the dollar sinking to record lows, is it time to step up your overseas investments? Well, yes—but not quite the way most gurus are advising.

With a few notable exceptions, foreign stock markets, especially the "emerging" bourses, have skyrocketed in recent years, particularly in dollar terms. For a U.S.-based investor, bargains are getting harder to find.

However, there's a nifty back-door entry into the arena of global growth—and the seats are cheap, too. Many of America's largest and best managed companies earn a hefty chunk of their sales and profits outside our borders. By plugging these stocks into your portfolio, you can ride the global economic boom more safely and efficiently than if you dabbled in stock markets from Paris to Shanghai.

Let me introduce you to some of these multinational gems, all poised to deliver a total return (dividends plus capital appreciation) that could stretch as high as 25%–35% in the coming year.

Until this summer, investors really hadn't seen a real live run on a bank since the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s. If this were a movie, we'd all be lost at sea, frantically bailing out our lifeboats just to stay a float.

Richard Band here—and not only do I love to sail, I love bailouts. Give me a bucket and a prime takeover opportunity, and I'm all over it like Blackbeard discovering a buried treasure.

Bailouts have been very good to me over the years and have made my subscribers very wealthy.

They've been pretty good to Warren Buffett, the so-called "Oracle of Omaha" too. In fact, Warren Buffett recently made his intentions quite clear: He set sail with a $50 billion harpoon and a taste for a big whale named Countrywide Financial. So when rumors surfaced that he might hunt down Countrywide, no one was less surprised than me. After all, this is the guy behind the Salomon Brothers bailout in 1991.

Today, I'm going to give you 5 bailout bargains to help your portfolio stay afloat until this subprime mortgage mess blows over. Let's start with the 3 that will double your money in the next year or two—

Over the past several months, I have been telling my readers that the stock market would put on its grand finale for 2007 during the fourth quarter. Well, the time is here, ladies and gentlemen, now that Ben Bernanke has lit the fuse! We may hear a couple of empty hisses in early October as this company or that announces less-than-stellar third-quarter earnings. But mark my words, as the month wears on, it will become clear as day that the market wants to be unleashed and shoot higher. I'm fully invested and ready to take off…and so are the titans of Wall Street! 

While Ben Bernanke does his thing to rev up business activity (and indirectly, share prices), America's corporate chieftains are already signaling that they think the September Fed rate cut will pay off. During the month of August alone, officers and directors of some of the nation's publicly traded companies bought $465.5 million of their own stock—the highest monthly total since 1990.

Insider purchases don't have to be large or flashy to be significant. In many cases, the mere fact that an insider is buying stock with his or her own money (rather than free stock via stock options) shows that the insider sees real value in the stock.

Historically, corporate insiders have shown an uncanny knack for scooping up their own stock near important market lows.

Investment professionals don't act on every investment tip they hear. And neither should you. The key is to figure out which market movers are worth paying attention to and which ones aren't even worth your time. Find out how I do just that here.

This Thursday, a new light, cheap and fast jet is supposed to be certified for flight. It’s called a VLJ or Very Light Jet—how clever. Well, this might be news to you but I have seen this one coming for some time.

It’s just one of the five occurrences that I see kicking us off into my Big Idea 2008—when 76 million baby boomers are set to retire. If you are one of them, you know that you will need an objective, reasoned game plan ideally crafted using common sense, logic, and preparation. All so you can retire with ease.

I urge every retiree, not just baby boomers, to ponder two equally important issues. Find out what they are, then work out the arithmetic of a financially secure and comfortable retirement.

Millions of investors are going to get the shock of their investing lives when they begin to withdraw their funds from their 401(k). And it's not the good kind of shock either. I don't want to see that happen to you. I don't want you to see years of struggle, saving and investment not pay off–ultimately setting back your standard of living during what should have been your golden years. That's why you must know the new rules of 401(k) investing. Let me share them with you now, and I'll even give you a sneak peek at one of my top stock recommendations.

Index investing has come a long way, but the best actively managed funds continue to beat the S&P by a handy margin. So the wizards of finance have gone to work, searching for ways to capture those extra profits while retaining the cost benefits of indexing.

The result? Intelligent indexing, also known as “fundamental” indexing.

This new breed of index funds doesn’t attempt to own the whole market or every company in a certain size range. Rather, intelligent index funds buy a basket of stocks that pass certain tests for investment merit.

Proponents of intelligent indexing have launched a gaggle of exchange-traded funds that embody the concept. But do they live up to expectations? And should you be investing in this new breed?