No matter what is happening in the markets and the economy, there are always opportunities for investors. The important thing is to learn and use tools to stay and make profit in this dangerous game. Investing today involves much more than reading and signing a few documents. You need to rethink your whole investment strategy and know how to control the people who take care about your investments.

Your Financial Goals & Success - The start of a new year is a good time to take stock of your financial achievements to date and establish new goals for the year ahead. Learn about basic steps that can help set you up for success...

How to Reach Your Financial Goals - Many people are trying to stick to their resolutions. Great number of surveys show that the most comon goals revolve around health and fitness, budgeting, personal finances and organization. Resolutions are sign of optimism and a challenge to get better at something and also a belief that it can happen.

Five Questions to Ask Before You Invest - Whether you’re a first-time investor or have been investing for many years, there are some basic questions you should always ask before you commit your hard-earned money to an investment.

Sources of Business Financing - Once you have listed the start-up costs and operating expenses for your business, you need to look at sources of financing, and then select the source that best suits your business needs.

Determine the Cost - It is essential to determine the costs of starting your venture and know how much capital is required before you begin. Your financial planing will serve you better and prove your professionalism when you go out in search for financing.

Five Keys to Investing Succes -Investing involves the best means to achieve your long-term financial goals. But any discussion of investing must begin with this simple truth: Investing requires taking risks. Your investment success depends in part on your ability to control those risks without passing up reasonable returns.

Getting Help With Your Investments - Whether you’re a first-time investor or an experienced hand, you may be able to benefit by working with a professional financial planner or investment adviser. But selecting an adviser who is knowledgeable about the specific issues you want to discuss, and who is also affordable and trustworthy, is a lot tougher than choosing a dentist or a plumber. And the conse-quences of making a poor selection can be even more costly.

The Basics of Investing in Stocks - Stocks have proved their worth and deserve a prominent place in any long-term investment plan, such as a retirement account. But because stocks are volatile—which means that by their nature, their value rises and falls—invest in them with caution. Ideally, stocks should be held to meet medium- and long-term goals. In other words, money invested in stocks should not be money that you might need in three to five years.

Where to Invest Your College Money - In this booklet, you will find choices for your long-term investments; funds you don't need to touch for five years or more and short-term savings. But, because it's fairly common for parents to get a late start at saving, the info is organized backward, starting with the safest choices for short-term money, including money-market mutual funds, CDs and government bonds, and progressing to investments that provide better returns but involve a little more risk, such as growth-and-income, long-term-growth and aggressive-growth mutual funds.

Oil and Gas Investment Alert - State securities regulators around the country warn that oil and gas investment scams are alive and well. High oil prices have created a heightened interest in investments in energy-related business ventures. Most oil and gas investment opportunities, while involving varying degrees of risks to the investor, are legitimate in their marketing and responsible in their operations. However, as in many other investment opportunities, it is not unusual for unscrupulous promoters to attempt to take advantage of investors by engaging in fraudulent practices.

A Primer for Investing in Bonds - A bond is basically a loan made by a corporation or government with the money used for a specific project such as a plant upgrade or a new bridge. The issuer pays the bondholder a specified amount of interest for a specified time, usually several years, and then repays the bondholder the face amount of the bond.

Mutual Funds and ETFs - Mutual funds combine the money of many inves-tors. Most funds have many thousands of investors, and all of their money adds up to hundreds of millions, and sometimes even billions, of dollars to invest. When you buy mutual funds, you’re also buying the skills of the people who manage those funds.

Building Wealth - A personal finance education resource for schools, nonprofit community organizations, financial services providers and consumers to help young people, adult consumers, families and others develop a plan for building personal wealth. Presents an overview of personal wealth-building strategies that includes setting financial goals, budgeting, saving and investing, managing debt, and understanding credit reports and credit scores.

Maximize Your Retirement Investments - First you'll need to start thinking about investing your retirement money, not simply saving it. That means learning about the investment choices, deciding where they fit in your business plan, weighing the risks and taking action.

Affinity Fraud: How To Avoid Investment Scams That Target Groups - Affinity fraud refers to investment scams that prey upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities, the elderly, or professional groups. The fraudsters who promote affinity scams frequently are - or pretend to be - members of the group. They often enlist respected community or religious leaders from within the group to spread the word about the scheme, by convincing those people that a fraudulent investment is legitimate and worthwhile. Many times, those leaders become unwitting victims of the fraudster's ruse. CLICK HERE to find out more about affinity fraud from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission...

The Investor Protection Institute (IPI) - IPI is an independent nonprofit organization that advances investor protection by conducting and supporting unbiased research and groundbreaking education programs. IPI carries out its mission through investor education, protection and research programs delivered at the national and grassroots level in collaboration with state securities regulators, nonprofits, universities, and other strategic partners. IPI is dedicated to providing innovative investor protection programs that will make a meaningful difference in the financial lives of Americans in all walks of life and at all levels of sophistication about financial matters. Visit their blog and website to learn more about investing, protect your savings, fraud prevention and related.

The Stock Market Game - The Stock Market Game gives students the chance to invest a hypothetical $100,000 in a real-time portfolio. They think they're playing a game. You know they're learning economic and financial concepts they'll use for the rest of their lives.

InvestWrite- Participate in InvestWrite, teacher-designed writing competition created to reinforce students' critical thinking skills.

The Internet and Online Trading - Find out how to invest wisely and avoid fraud on the Internet, from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Investor Education Resource Center - Investing means putting your money to work so it can make more money. It is not a get-rich-quick scheme and it’s not gambling. Being an informed investor means having a plan and understanding each of your investments. Whether you’re new to investing or already investing, NASAA and its members provide a variety of online investor education resources for investors of all ages.

NASAA Fraud Center - Education and awareness are an investor's first line of defense against investment fraud. Each year, investors lose billions of dollars to investment fraud. Investors face increasingly complex and confusing scams. The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) represents state and provincial securities regulators in the United States, Canada and Mexico. As the oldest international investor protection organization, NASAA is pleased to provide the tools investors can use to educate themself about investments and protect themself against investment fraud.

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