There is a general consensus that the world is entering an era of ever increasing oil and energy prices, experiencing an inevitable yet unsustainable growth in population coupled with the potential shortage of water and food. All these issues exist with the constant threat of climate change. Thus sustainable investment is becoming a necessity, however many investors still do not take these issues into consideration, even through research indicates that companies who practice sustainable policies and operations considerably outperform those who don’t.

Image by Monkey Mash Button via Flickr

Whether you are searching for an online trading firm or information on online trading, the first hurdle is to know where to look. Ideally, when you learn trading commodities online, you should be able to turn to the website where you have your account. The majority of online brokerage accounts have an educational center or section of the site where you can read tips, advice and articles on trading online commodities.

Image by bsterling via Flickr

There are so many bank accounts available these days that it is hard to choose! Many banks will advertise their new and shiny account, with special extras, bonuses for signing up, and lots of fancy bells and whistles. With all of these enticing features, it’s hard to see through to the basics of what makes a good bank account. How can you cut through the hype and find the right account for you?

Here are some of the basic features that every bank account should have:

Image by 401K via Flickr

Republicans in the House of Delegates caved on Thursday to the President's, congressional Left wingers ', and fellow Republicans ' demands for a renewing of payroll tax cuts for employees. This is to a short term call till they can settle on a more formal budget plan. This may spare employees from having a standard $20 per week tax increase beginning Jan first.

Image via Wikipedia

Welcome to the December 13, 2011 edition of Stock Carnival Ecstasy. In this edition we have some really good stories including one from Super Saver on a decline in the markets titled ‘Waiting for the Fat Lady to Sing’. Bill Smith takes a look at Four Extra Financial Accounts you should establish. And finally we have Investing Lingo, learning the language of traders, from Dr. Dean. Hope you enjoy the articles, bookmark, share, tweet, like on Facebook and come back soon.

Image via Wikipedia

The stock market is getting a lot of attention today with the recent backlash and protests on Wall Street. The negative sentiments further fuel assumptions of brokers scamming and engaging in unethical practices.

While the stock market has undoubtedly had its share of horror stories, the investment opportunities it presents are still legitimate. The only question is, which ones? To prevent losing out on your hard earned money, it pays to do your own research and take the time to understand the basics of how you can avoid getting hoodwinked by unscrupulous investment scams. To do this you also need to look at a few of the stock market’s most successful swindlers to help you weed out the bad ones from the good.

Image via Wikipedia

The notion that megabanks like the Royal Bank of Scotland are too big to fail apparently isn’t as easy a sell to as it used to be. Everyone hopes that the European Union will be unable to save foundering debtor nations Greece and Italy from default, but no one can see how. And fears are growing that default is inevitable.  Meanwhile, governments, which are cash poor to begin with, are responding  to  their public’s growing impatience with bailouts by sending signals that they won’t come to the rescue of any financial institutions left holding worthless debt. As a result, for the third time in two months the Royal Bank of Scotland has seen its credit rating lowered by one of the big debt rating agencies, not because of any change at the bank itself, but because debt rating agencies are factoring government reluctance to engage in further bailouts into their overall assessments  of financial institutions. This is why Standard & Poors recently downgraded the RBS from an A to an A-  rating following  similar moves by Moody’s and the UK agency Fitch’s in early October.

Investing can seem like a scary thing to many young people. After all, the global markets are very volatile right now, paving the way for massive sell offs in the market. Global pressures of debt and political unrest in many parts of the world are also adding fuel to the fire - making it seem like a horrible time to start investing.

Well, here’s some news for you: it’s almost never a bad time to start investing. In fact, to quote the ever wise Warren Buffet, “Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.” Markets will always be volatile, and with anything in life there will always be some bad that comes with the good, but even with the rocky nature of the stock market you may still earn a higher return for your investment than you would in a regular savings account. Furthermore, the younger you start, the more time you'll have, allowing you to wait out rough patches in the market and recover from short-term dips.

Unfortunately, young investors have shown to be the first to bail during rough economic times. However, for those of you who are young and want to take advantage of the potential gains there are some great books you can read to get you started.

Image by Brett Jordan via Flickr

It is nearly the end of the year again when we make our New Year's resolutions for the following year. Looking at cleaning up your finances is a worthy New Year's resolution that will pay off in the long run with a well-formulated plan.

Wouldn't it be great to end 2012 debt and be worry free? To be able to have a restful night's sleep without fearing debt collectors and post threatening legal action and bailiffs would be wonderful.

There are lots of money saving ideas and ways to help reduce debt and support you on your way to a debt free life.

Forex is a $4.2trillion daily business. No financial trading hub can boast of the kind of money that circulates in the Forex market. Given that a few years ago, the daily Forex turnover was just about 30% of today’s values, it is safe to say that in the next five years, we may see the daily turnover reach almost $10 trillion. With so much money floating around in one financial hub, it is not surprising that the Forex market will naturally draw out the human element of greed in some of its participants.

Of all the participants in the Forex market, the brokers are in a better position to profit financially. They make money from spreads and commissions generated by traders, irrespective of the market conditions. In a situation where there is a quest and accompanying pressure by humanity to live well and have the best that life can offer, it is not surprising that some brokers engage in practices that short-change clients and scam money off them.