Forbes magazine has turned up some of the most-innovative investments.

As an example, many, many years ago, before Apple Computer (AAPL) became public, there was an article in Forbes about how a publicly traded closed-end venture capital fund called the Nautilus Fund happened to be an early stage investor in Apple Computer and owned lots of the company's shares. You could have bought shares in Nautilus, and when Apple went public, Nautilus distributed the proportionate shares of Apple to each investor (which could have been you).

Another recent article in Forbes was on the subject of CurrencyShares. You may have stumbled upon these investments eventually, but Forbes was the first place we saw a reference to them.

CurrencyShares are exchange-traded funds set up as trusts to track various currencies. So if you think a currency is going to go up in relation to the dollar, you don't have to buy a foreign exchange contract or go to a bank or foreign exchange office and buy large amounts of currency. Instead, you can buy shares in one of the CurrencyShares, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, just like a stock.

If you think the currency is going in the other direction in relation to the dollar, you have a couple of options (no pun intended). You can either short the CurrencyShares or you can buy puts on the trust shares.

Here are the CurrencyShares that are currently available:

CurrencyShares Australian Dollar Trust (FXA), which has a goal of tracking the price of the Australian dollar, has had a 12.89% year-to-date return and pays a yield of 5.4%.

CurrencyShares British Pound Sterling Trust (FXB), which has an objective of tracking the price of the British pound, has had a 2.46% year-to-date return and pays a 4.8% yield.

CurrencyShares Canadian Dollar Trust (FXC) has had a year-to-date return of negative 1.35%, with a 3.3% yield.

CurrencyShares Euro Trust (FXE), with an objective of tracking the Euro, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, has had a return year-to-date of 9.65% and pays a 3.2% yield.

CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust (FXY), which attempts to track the Japanese yen, has had a year to date return of 4.80%.

CurrencyShares Mexican Peso Trust (FXM) has had a 9.43% year-to-date return and pays a yield of 5.8%.

CurrencyShares Swedish Krona Trust (FXS) has had a 9.39% year-to-date return and pays a 2.9% yield.

CurrencyShares Swiss Franc Trust (FXF) has had a year-to-date return of 11.62% and pays a yield of 1.26%.

It's too bad that there is no simple way to trade the Zimbabwe currency.

These CurrencyShares are options worth considering in this up-and-down market.


A note from James Altucher:

Every weekend I send an email to Jim Cramer and several hedge fund managers about the most interesting portfolios posted on Stockpickr that week. Usually those portfolios not only list stocks according to a theme but also offer significant analysis as to why the stocks are cheap.

Here are some examples:

Stocks related to drilling the Marcellus Shale

MLPS with yields above 7%

Microcaps trading for less than tangible book

Stocks that do well after Hurricanes

Here's the challenge: Build a portfolio at Stockpickr.com with great analysis, and send me the link. Each great portfolio (with analysis) will get posted on TheStreet.com with your byline (as a "Stockpickr Guest Columnist") and will be included in my email I send to Jim and the other
hedge fund managers on my list.



Posted on Aug. 11, 2008