These are the worst of times for fixed income investors.  With rates on five year CDs hovering around three percent and treasuries yielding even less, many fixed income investors have seen their income sliced by half.  And you might as well shove your money under a mattress before sticking it in a money market account. To add insult to injury, some banks  have the gall to give you zero percent interest on your checking and savings.  Bonds are little better with AA or better bonds yielding somewhere in the 3 percent range.

And then one has to consider the risk factor. At the current anemic rates, putting any money in bonds or government securities exposes you to major and potentially catastrophic capital losses when rates go up.

Hoping to make your money on dividends? Well, even there, there is no safe haven in many of the companies that have been the bedrock for fixed income investors. The recession has forced many of them to slash their dividends.

So what's a battered fixed income investor to do?  Well one option that is becoming more popular is buying into Master Limited Partnerships, which have steady cash flows and pay dividends that are currently running at seven percent or better.

Go to any online investment discussion board and you'll probably encounter the million dollar question - which is better, the stock market or real estate. Of course, the choice isn't exclusive of one another: ideally you have both. But if forced to put your eggs in one basket or another, which should you choose? we have a little bit of a feud going on here at LiveCheap.com on the right answer to that question. In the Real Estate corner is Ahmed Amr, whose real estate investments in Seattle made him a pretty penny. Backing equity investing in good ole' companies via the stock market is Omie Ismail, who has gotten his share of multi-bagger equity returns. Point by point in 12 different aspects, our Cheapsters have at it.