Editor's Note: Rob Levin is a good reporter and a smart guy, but before he started writing for HAI, he knew very little about commodities. In fact, that's why we hired him.

One of the defining features of the current commodities boom is that it is bringing a wide array of investors into the commodities market for the first time.

Our challenge to Rob: Starting from square one, try to figure out if and why he (and others) might add commodities exposure to a portfolio ... and then report back to us.

What follows is the first installment of a regular feature, "Investor In The Woods," where Rob will explore the commodities market from a fresh perspective.

With stocks down and the dollar facing serious challenges abroad, a huge number of people are looking toward the commodities markets and wondering, "Is this the next great place to put my money?"

At least that's what the leader of a major financial planning firm told me recently.

"Commodity pressure and commodity questions and commodity business are at an unbelievable, all-time, high peak of interest," said Lawrence Passaretti, managing partner of Professional Planning Services, LLC, in Melville, N.Y., a group he formed two decades ago. "The problem is, most people don't understand ... how to [get into commodities] without taking unbelievable risk. When you look at it, it's probably the hardest area of the market to learn."

The fact that individuals are even considering investing in commodities in such large numbers is, in itself, remarkable. Never before in our history has the average man or woman been able to gain exposure to these markets as easily as they can now.

"It's a new ball game nowadays," said Brad Zigler, managing editor of HardAssetsInvestor.com. Zigler's been involved with this world for several decades, heading up marketing, research and education at the Pacific Exchange's option marketplace and Barclays Global Investors before becoming a financial research and communications consultant for a number of private and public organizations.

Easier Access

"You can get commodities exposure with a single share of one of the indexes or ETFs or ETNs right now, for twenty-five bucks or so," Zigler said. "You could not hope to do anything like that two decades ago [the last time the country witnessed a bull market in commodities]. For the smallest ones, the minimum buy-in was probably around $5,000."

Exchange-traded notes and exchange-traded funds are investment vehicles through which individuals can buy shares in select portions of the commodities market. The shares are traded as stocks, offering a return as the price of the goods in the selected group, or index, rise.

Both channels are relatively new, and in today's world of instant information, are readily available to anyone with a computer at the click of a button. But the ease with which someone can place their money into the commodities futures pool doesn't necessarily increase their chances of making any money, both Zigler and Passaretti agreed.

Commodities are a notoriously volatile sector, with peak highs one day followed by jarring lows the next. Even in times of seemingly consistent price rises such as these, there really is no sure thing, both men noted.

"You can look at it twofold. Returns for real assets have become attractive, and there's also a diversification benefit," Zigler said. "The downside is, you can have overexuberant exposure to an asset class that bubbles and bursts, and if you're not particularly nimble, you get sucked into the down draft."

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