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3 Safe Investments That Let You ‘Sleep Better:’ Strategist

Published: Tuesday, 10 Nov 2009 | 6:24 PM ET

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By: JeeYeon Park
CNBC News Associate

Look for low risk investments that will "let you sleep a little bit better," said Manuel Schiffres, executive editor at Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. He shared his best trades with CNBC.

Schiffres Suggests:

Vanguard Short-Term Federal [VSGBX Loading... () ]—“It’s invested in government agency paper,” Schiffres told CNBC. “This is a fund that’s your mattress money—or today’s equivalent of money market funds. If you’re making nothing on your money, this will give you about 1.5 percent.”

Merger Fund [MERFX Loading... () ]—“It invests in companies that have been announced as takeover targets…it’s a very low-risk fund, very low volatility and correlates very little to the overall stock market,” he said.

“The manager tries to capture the final few dollars of appreciation between the time the deal is announced and the time the deal is consummated. If you do this right, you can get steady returns of 8 to 10 percent a year with relatively modest risk.”

Proctor & Gamble [PG Loading... () ]—“It’s a preeminent marketer of the world’s most famous brand names,” Schiffres said. “It’s a steady grower and it’s raised dividends 53 straight years. The beta is 0.6, so the stock tends to move very little with regard to the market and the stock has done very little this year.”