It is possible that you have heard ‘leave the investing in gold to the professionals’. Don’t listen to that, they just don’t want you to have a piece of this profitable pie.

The interesting thing about gold is that it is a commodity and doesn’t earn interest like your regular investments but is based on the profit you can get if you can sell it for more money then you paid for it.

One way to invest is to invest in Gold bullion around the world with American Eagle, the UK Britannia, or Australian Nugget to name a few. Gold coins are invested around the world on a daily basis with a ready market. Value is not only based on the gold content but their artistic beauty.

You could choose to invest in gold mining companies. You will need to do some research into the companies you choose and determine their future prospects in terms of potential and growth of the company. With gold mining mutual funds you could diversify with a few gold mining companies around the world to lessen your risk.

lthough the gold market seems to be a volatile one, you have to consider that gold is immune from factors like economics because of the worldwide interest.

Gold is being invested somewhere round around the world every minute of the day in London. New York, Tokyo, Zurich and Hong Kong to name a few, it’s a case of being in the right place at the right time.

Gold is not just for jewelry but for things like satellites and other objects that need its soft alloy quantities. It is needed by many countries all around the world and is a liquid stock, as it is being bought and sold all the time so when the time is right it is easy to get rid of – an investor’s dream.In 2001, average price of gold was $274, in 2005 it was $445. As of today, gold is worth around $770.

We all hear of these weird abbreviations, with lots of different letters in them that don’t really mean anything to those who do not invest. They are stock exchanges!Okay let’s begin with some of the best known stock exchanges.

The London Stock Exchange is the original and one of the three most heard of and most used exchanges in the world. It may not be known by many but the London stock exchange and the Borsa Italiana have merged and it has alliances with eight other European stock exchanges.

This means they have created a leading and diversified European group that makes it a force to be reckoned with and is worth taking a long and hard look at.

Before this happened you may have known of the London Stock Exchange by the abbreviation ‘LSEG’. It is now the LSE.

You may have heard of the FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange), which is not actually a stock exchange but an index of the best performing companies within the London Stock Exchange.There are three main American stock exchanges, the first of which is the AMEX that started out in 1842. Let’s not get too much into the history of these things, although it does go back to colonial times, where almost everything about stocks and shares comes from. So let’s blame the British for making us all lots of money (why not they do it so well)!

Then there is the NYSE & the NASDAQ.

Out of the three major American stock exchanges, the AMEX (stands for American Stock Exchange) is known to have the most liberal policies concerning company listings, as most of its companies are generally smaller compared to the NYSE (stands for New York Stock Exchange) and NASDAQ (stands for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations).Another major force in the world of stock exchanges is the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), only established recently after the Second World War on April 1st 1949. This exchange has grown within business and popularity not just in the Western world but also has helped other companies and even governments within Asia develop within the world wide community.

Getting to know all these different exchanges is not difficult, but will need some additional research. We will be spilling the beans on these and more stock exchanges, so come back soon to look at more information on these and the lesser known markets which are up and coming and ready for your investments!

If you are lucky enough to own a waterfront property or two (or even just thinking about it) have you ever thought what would happen if the water rose an inch or three? Is the idea still appealing and how would you sell it on? It’s not impossible with the melting icecaps and rising seas.

Climate change should be a real consideration when deciding your portfolio, as the fuel guzzling and carbon emitting companies may not have as bright a future as they or you think on first glance, especially with political support growing for the regulation of carbon emissions.

Global warming is not just something that might happen one day anymore, it is now a real threat with the impacts already rife in our lives. Hotter summers and milder winters, freak weather, hurricanes and tsunamis to name a few.

Climate change is nudging aside tech and biotech companies as investments for the future. And why not - the more people who choose to invest in ‘green’ companies, the more chance we have of saving our planet from burning up!

Some research commissioned by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) earlier this year found that out of 1000 investors asked 62% said that as the reality of climate change hits; this would be a consideration in their future investment decisions.

There is already a name and approach to this kind of investing called socially responsible investing that makes up about an estimated 10% of the $24 trillion investment marketplace in the U.S.

You could look into companies that offer alternative energy sources like ethanol, solar power products or turbines like Monsanto, Evergreen Solar or General Electric. These are companies looking into the future - our future.

If you are new to investing, you might want to be a socially responsible investor and help save the world! Perhaps this will also result in higher returns in the future, when these companies start reaping the benefits of being one step ahead of others in using environmentally friendly alternative energy sources.

Before researching this topic I thought the answer to the difference between investing and gambling would be clear-cut. Instead I discovered it really comes down to what you choose to invest in.

It is a fact that the stock market has grown at approximately 10.5% per year since 1926, including all the market crashes since then, which appear as little blips on a steep incline in the whole scheme of things.

So to effectively take out the risk (gamble) of investing it would be wise to invest in household names for the long term. If you were around in 1919 and were luckily enough to invest $4,000 in Coca Cola, you would have got yourself a $600,000,000 return by now! Or if you had purchased just ONE share, you would by now you would, through dividend reinvestment and stock splits, be a millionaire.

A more recent example would be Microsoft. If you invested $10,000 in 1986, you would have had a $6,000,000 return by 2000.

To find companies like these to invest in you would look for index funds that perform well or mimic the Wilshire 5000, S&P 500 or Russell 2000.

If you buy into stocks on a whim, do no research or act on a tip from someone who doesn’t know his bears from his bulls then this behavior could be construed as gambling rather than investing.

The boundaries between gambling and investing start to merge more when you employ strategies like day trading and swing trading, or when you invest in biotech companies that have drugs that are currently being researched in clinical trials, etc. The emotions and rush of adrenalin must be similar as you weigh up the wins and losses each day.

Really the difference boils down to the fact the longer you stay in the game with investing, the more likely you are to succeed and be the winner but the longer you stay at the casino table the more likely you are to lose everything.

In years gone by, stocks were traded in a static place and still are (like the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street), a building or somewhere where people can physically check and make decisions on the price for the commodity they are trading in. Everyone has seen the clips on TV and films of people waving their arms about shouting at everyone around them buy, BUY! Sell, SELL! What is not televised is the other side of trading – the virtual side.

This type of trading has happened for years before the Internet, it may have been a lot slower with telegrams, phone and even horseback! The one thing that people were not able to do centuries ago was use other countries stock markets each and every day. Now we can! Did you know you can travel the virtual world with your stock market investments even if you have never been outside your village, town or country? You can be that person shouting BUY or SELL at the computer screen in the comfort of your own home and by the click of a few buttons maybe make yourself rich.

On the Internet you can constantly check different movements, rates and fluctuations and make money from different stock markets both around the world and the clock! You can still trade, even when US markets are closed. That’s right, on foreign stock markets. As one market closes another will be opening. Just remember in between making money on different markets to get some sleep! While you are sleeping you can even earn money too, such is the nature of investing. So never forget that you can use different country’s stock markets. Of course, this requires additional knowledge so it is definitely not something beginners should get into.

Over the next few months, we will be highlighting some of the strongest stock markets around the world and why they would be worth investing in, along with some rather excellent investing tactics and strategies.

There are certain steps to take when you are creating an investment portfolio and different things to consider. This quick guide will help you to figure out exactly what you need to do to make your money work for you.

a. Figure out what you are saving for

It’s always a good idea to outline your goals and this way you know exactly what you are planning to do. Are you doing this so that you have money for college for your kids? Are you looking to buy a house, a new car? Or is this going to create a nest egg for when you retire?

b. Figure out when you will need the money

Next you are going to figure out when you are going to need the money. Obviously, it’s not a good idea to invest if you need the money within a few weeks. It’s always a good idea to plan ahead with your investments. But planning ahead will help you to understand how much of a return you will need on your investment. Depending on how long you can keep the money invested, you might put it into stocks, mutual funds, bonds, etc.

c. Figure out how much to invest

Don’t invest more money than you can afford to invest. If your circumstances change, you can always invest more money later. Always make sure you have an emergency fund (cash on hands) that will cover your expenses for at least 3-6 months should something unexpected happen.

d. Figure out your risk factor

Decide how much of a risk you are willing to take. There are plenty of investments that offer better returns but with a risk factor that is higher than others. If you love risk invest in penny stocks. If you hate to risk, mutual funds are probably the best choice for you. But sometimes it is best to diversify. Put some money into stocks, some into mutual funds, etc. This way the risk will be moderate, but return can be higher than if you just invested into mutual funds, for example.

e. Put it all together

Once you know the details of your investment, put it together in a portfolio, including when you need the money, how much to invest, and what you are expecting as a return.

f. Speak with a counsellor

Next you want to go and talk to a counsellor who specializes in investing and see if they can offer any advice to help you to achieve your goals. Or you can save some money and figure this out yourself if you are educated enough to make this kind of decisions. But since you are reading this you are probably interested in making this kind of decisions yourself, sooner or later.

g. Look over your portfolio

You should take your portfolio out at least once a year and see where you are with your investment. Preferably more often.

Can you believe it, by studying Lara Croft’s adventurous lifestyle - we can learn some valuable lessons about looking after our own personal finances.

Don’t believe me? Then you’d better read on!

Lara would make sure that the biggest threats are dealt with first. The first problem with personal finances, that many of us need to deal with, is debt.

Our main priority should be to get rid of high interest debts like credit cards, loans and yes, even mortgages. Once you have battled with these giants and won, you can start to invest safe in the knowledge that your investment will have higher returns than your debt interest.

In our lifetimes there are several fatal personal finance mistakes that we can make, that even a lithe Lara Croft would not be able to dodge!

We have a tendency to purchase debt by agreeing to pay for something over a few years so we can have it now - like cars. Cars lose value very quickly, yet we will still be paying the premium price for it over x amount of years. Other fatal personal finance mistakes people make is paying out for small expenses that add up like seeing all the latest movies, buying lunch everyday instead of packing it, buying luxury food items, a gym membership that has hardly been used, etc.

You have to be in control of your lifestyle and be disciplined with your finances.

If we are not careful, we run the risk of creating more bullets to dodge by creating more expensive lifestyle habits when we get a pay rise and we do things like buy an expensive new car instead of choosing to invest that money wisely.

Lara Croft would always make sure that she is safe before saving anyone else! So your mission is - get in a position where you can put 10% of your monthly income aside for future investments, to ensure your own personal financial security. Don’t let the Big Boys and Bullets keep you down! Lara wouldn’t!

Today was a great day for markets. Dow Jones surged to above 14,000 for the first time in two and a half months, and the blue chip index rose more than 200 points. To be exact, Dow Jones is currently sitting at 14,087.55 which is its record high, ever, after rising 191.92 points, or 1.38 percent. Nasdaq jumped 39.49 points to 2,740.99 which is 1.46 percent increase and S&P 500 jumped 20.29 points to 1,547.04 or 1.33 percent.

The profit warnings from Citigroup and UBS apparently did not scare off investors, and it looks like they were eager to get back into stocks at the beginning of the fourth quarter after pretty weak third quarter. Because of the bad news from Citigroup and Swiss bank UBS AG many seemed very confident that Feds will make another interest rate cut at Oct. 30-31 meeting which will definitely send stocks up even more, so it looks like investors just didn’t want to be left behind.

Overall I believe we are in for a very interesting fourth quarter. Check out the 5 year Dow Jones chart bellow.