Every day, nearly 1,400 Americans are victims of identity theft. It can take anywhere from two to four years to straighten out nightmare, and average victim will invest approximately 175 hours and over $800 of their own money trying to get their situation resolved. Here are five steps you can take to protect yourself, safeguard your identity, and ensure that your credit remains sound.

1.Guard your Social Security number. If you have number printed on your checks, cross it off manually and reorder new checks without it. If you have your SSN as your driver?s license number, request a new one with a different number.

2.Check your bank and credit card statements every month for unusual activity. You only have sixty days to report identity theft, or you become liable for damages yourself.

Most discussions in past have centered exclusively on performance comparisons. Even rating services like Morningstar have occasionally chimed in with their opinion. However, rather than focusing only on performance, there are some other issues I consider far more important:

1. Who is selling load funds and why? 2. Who markets no load funds? 3. Which one is right for you?

Who is selling load funds and why? Most load funds are being sold through brokerage houses, financial planners and Registered Representatives. With few exceptions, most of those folks operate on basis of selling as much product as possible. They collect their commissions up front, as a back end charge, or both (usually in range of 5 - 6%). Whether you make money or not is not their primary concern. What matters most to those operating under this approach is how often you buy—and thereby generate new commissions for them.

Who markets no load funds? No Load funds are either marketed directly by mutual fund companies or, more commonly these days, offered through discount houses like Schwab, Fidelity, and many others. The advantage to this is that you have an unlimited choice of funds in one place and don't have to open separate accounts for each mutual fund family that you are considering.

Most fee based investment advisors, like myself, have independent relationships with such major discount firms and are able to offer clients just about any no load mutual fund available. They receive no compensation from firm and only get paid by client at a pre-determined fee arrangement. Under this arrangement, there is no hidden motivation to sell you a particular fund or to try and sell more in order to get a larger commission.

Which one is right for you? Whether you prefer dealing with someone selling load funds or an advisor getting you into no loads, let me make one thing very clear: You can make money or lose money either way! Why?