Mostly issued by financial institutions, a letter of credit (LC) is a standard document which is primarily used in the trade finances to provide irrevocable payment undertakings
Financial economics is a field of economics that deals with the deployment and allocation of resources, in an uncertain environment, across time as well as spatially and blends the study of finance with the methodology of economicsSearch
Trading Basics
Though stock trading is seen as an easy way of earning profit, many people are apprehensive about it due to the risks involved. But, if you choose your stocks properly after proper research, probability of is reduced. If you cannot make strategy, click here for top penny stock picks and use their research for choosing your stocks. Stock investing can be simple and rewarding, just make the right moves!
Investment Options
One of the most common financial planning mistakes is investing in the wrong avenue. Bonds, mutual funds, stocks, fixed deposits are few investment avenues. Before investing in stocks, learn about stock trading. For a stock exchange game click here and operate virtually in the stock market to understand the basics and learn how to operate in a market.
The independent trustee and conflicts of interest
An independent trustee, by definition, is free from any potential conflict of interest. Why? The word independent is the give away, not surprisingly – independent of other members of the trustee board through a family connection, for example, or working in some other capacity for the pension scheme’s sponsoring employer, or being connected directly or indirectly with a member of the pension scheme itself. Conflict of interest is pernicious and can readily undermine the good governance of any pension scheme. Conflict of interest can be subtle and very hard to spot. It can also be blatantly obvious, as a recent case highlighted all too clearly. 
Tips on how to kick start your business in Australia
Australia is a hub of opportunities to start up a business. The offices spaces in Australia can help you kick start your business, if you understand the space that is required and what the space would be used for. There are majorly 2 types of Serviced Office Space in Australia, home and commercial use.
If you have a business that needs mostly online facility or are a freelancer and do not require many facilities that an ideal commercial office requires, home serviced office space is an ideal choice for you to make. The low rental and fewer restrictions on usage allow you to save quite a bit to take your business to heights. A simple apartment or residential room unit is mostly used for this purpose.
If you are choosing to expand your business to Australia or starting a commercial business in Australia keep in mind that commercial service office spaces should be your choice. The commercial offices spaces in Australia are provided with fitted room furnishings and the basic equipment to start your business. The rental rate for the commercial offices is higher compared to the home office spaces in Australia.
The independent trustee and conflicts of interest
Company pension schemes are not immune from conflicts of interest despite many having robust procedures in place to deal with them if they should arise. Indeed, all those involved in the running of a pension scheme, which typically might include an independent trustee, scheme auditor, independent financial adviser, or lawyer, need to be fully aware of the possibility.
Conflicts of interest, which can range from the subtle to the blatantly obvious, can sometimes arise when staff of an employer, for example, are appointed as trustees of the company’s pension scheme. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the practice because such trustees are likely to bring with them a great deal of useful knowledge and expertise. However, the trustees of the scheme are there to protect its members, not the interests of the employer.
Why that 7th piece of pizza is not as good as the first – the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility
Before we plunge into the some of the minor complexities of microeconomics, lets have a look at few of the key terms we will be talking about.
- utility – the measure of relative satisfaction gained from a good.
- total utility – the total amount of satisfaction gained from consuming a specific quantity. It is equal to all the marginal utilities added together.
- marginal utility – of a service or good is the utility gained or lost from the increase or decrease in consumption of that service.
- law of diminishing marginal utility – states that there is decline in marginal utility that a person derives from consuming each additional unit of that good.
Why popular toys during holiday season are in short supply – Demand and Supply
If you are a parent, or have seen Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ‘Jingle All the Way’, you will find that during the holiday season, most of the popular toys are in short supply. This can make it difficult for you to please your little one on Christmas. While most of us wont go to the lengths Schwarzenegger went in that movie, we are, at most of the times, willing to pay more for that toy to see the smile on our kid’s face.
But come January and the stores drop the prices of that same toy to sell off the remaining stocks as early as possible. So why do we – the consumers and the stores – the producers, behave in this way? The answer lies in perhaps one of the most fundamental concepts of economics called ‘supply and demand’ which is the backbone of market economy.
Value of the best foregone alternative – Opportunity Cost
A key concept in economics, ‘Opportunity Cost’ is generally defined as the ‘value of the best foregone alternative’. In simpler terms, it is the cost of the next best choice available to you when you choose from various ‘mutually exclusive choices’.
In economics and especially for economists, the idea of cost is slightly quirky, as for them, the cost of something is not just the monetary value but ‘all’ of the value given up in acquiring that particular thing. Additionally, going by the definition, the cost of something is not just its cash value but is also the value of something that you didn’t get. A simple concept, opportunity cost however has powerful implications. It has been described as expressing the basic relation between scarcity and choice. Opportunity cost is that notion which plays a important part in making sure that there is efficient use of scarce resources.
A Decade’s review
The decade that passed by has not been such an easy one for the United States Economy. It seems to have set a precedent that whatever begins with a boom is sure to go out with a burst. Keeping true to its teaching the last decade did open splendidly. Let’s have a look at some of the important events of the last decade.
The dot-com bubble
The decade open the new millennia on a high note, riding on the dot-com bubble. But like all bubbles, this one too burst in March 2000 pushing the economy into a recession and killing off behemoths like WorldCom and jeopardizing companies like Cisco. The ill-effects of the bubble were further amplified due to the 9/11 attacks.