The Cheapskate's Guide to Trading from Anywhere

VENICE, Italy (MainStreet) -- In today's no-growth, going-nowhere, short-attention-span market, a vacation has become a concept. Nobody -- and I mean nobody -- has the luxury of putting their investing on hold. Let's just count up what can go wrong: There's Greece, Spain and Italy. (Or is it India, China and North Korea?) There's inflation. And jobs. Wait: There is the election. And deflation. Oh, and virtualization.

That means that as you finalize your summer travel plans, you are going to have to find a reliable way to stay in touch from anywhere ... if only to keep one's finger close to the panic button.

As you finalize summer travel plans, you should also find a reliable way to stay in touch from anywhere -- just in case.

There is a silver lining I can report to you from here in a Venetian lagoon: At least for this global traveling business geek, communication options have never been easier.

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Staying connected around the world still requires a heart-to-heart chat with your cellphone provider. Remember, these operations live to overcharge for international cell and data service, and you can easily spend more on your global roaming than you do on airfare.

But if you do it right, there is real value these days in world communication options.

Here are my three cheapskate tips you can use this summer to stay in touch -- and keep the investing monsters under the bed where they belong.

Save oodles with prepaid international roaming from T-Mobile.
I am not sure why investors are treating this operation like carrion after the failed merger with AT&T (T). T-Mobile is setting the bar when it comes to affordable pricing, coverage and devices for moving around the globe.

For contract customers, the operation offers not-bad $15 per MB for data access in most European countries and $1 or so per minute for voice. But here's where the value really is for the short-term trader: international prepaid roaming plans. Simply head down to one of the zillions of T-Mobile retail touchpoints, work with the rep there on the specific countries to which you plan to travel. T-Mobile should offer several excellent, low-cost options, some as low as 60 cents per minute for voice. And the true beauty is that you can pay in advance and top up as you travel overseas. This not only vaporizes the after-the-fact travel cellphone bill trauma, but lets you wheel and deal in-country when it comes to topping up your minutes.

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Billions of prepaid mobile users worldwide are not stupid -- paying before you call is the smart global roaming option.

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