APEX, NC–(MARKET WIRE)–Dec 12, 2007 — HydroFlo, Inc. (Other OTC:HYRF.PK – News) announced today that its Board of Directors, led by George Moore, in consultation with management and many large HydroFlo, Inc. shareholders, has decided to aggressively pursue a restructuring plan. The Board believes that the future of the world is directly linked to the efficient integration of water, one of the world’s most precious resources, and solar power, one of the world’s most abundant resources.
“Many socially responsible investors are under the impression that there needs to be a tradeoff between social impact and financial returns. We believe it’s possible to have both and tradeoff is not always necessary,” said Josh Cohen, managing partner at the VC firm City Light Capital. Indeed, companies that do good are gaining momentum through consumer preference, word-of-mouth, and positive press. In a recent interview by Pepsi’s CEO …, I was impressed that they have taken their “Performance with Purpose” motto to the next level. Pepsi is led by a woman with a diverse background, is making strides in improving healthiness of products, and recently was honored with the Corporate Social Responsibility Outstanding Contribution Award in China. As an investor, it is your responsibility to find investments that offer financial returns, and it is your right to also demand social impact. Below, we share tips for investing with purpose.
1. Prioritize Your Causes. Many of us are passionate about specific causes which have been relevant in our lives. For example, if you have loved ones that are afflicted with cancer, put your investments into companies with the best chance of therapeutic advancements. If your cause is planet Earth, there are many clean tech ETFs to choose from. Likewise, you can select investments based on your interest in causes ranging from local farming to community banking to education.
[Editor's Note: This is the eighth installment of our “Outlook 2009” series, which looks at the global investing outlook for the New Year.]
President-elect Barack Obama has made no bones about wanting to jump-start the renewable energy markets – pledging $150 billion for the development of biofuels, solar and wind power, other alternative energy sources during his first term.
But what might the new administration mean for more traditional – and more reliable –energy sources?
Stock trading is one of the last true meritocracies. All that matters for your investment success are your own decisions. Stock trading is a precision-based activity and one tiny mistake in judgment could send you plummeting right to the bottom and result in a huge loss.
Likewise, the opposite could happen. You may make a great buying decision that will put you on the path to riches. Traditional stock trading is done at stock exchanges, which are places where buyers and sellers meet and decide on a price, although electronic trading is gaining in popularity. Stock trading is affected by how well the economy is doing and by basic supply and demand considerations.
In the complicated world of financial services, you’re being misled.
Wall Street advisors employ a strategy of “active marketing,” which is the continual development of new products designed and marketed as the latest and greatest solution to investors’ fears and concerns. There is an addiction factor at work here; active marketing feeds our desire to roll the dice. This rolling of the dice takes the form of stock picking, market timing and return chasing, activities otherwise known as active management.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years, you probably have heard about OPEC. OPEC is an acronym for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Twelve countries – Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela make up the membership of the cartel.
The developed world runs on oil, so it’s easy to see that oil (or rather, the production and exportation of oil) can be used as a very effective weapon. And it has been. And it likely will be again.
Haven’t you become a member of the large family of mutual fund investors yet? If you keep waiting you may never be able to feel the positive effects mutual funds have on your account. However, you are not the only one who has not managed to overcome some of the basic mental barriers that come in your way toward mutual fund investing.
First of all you may think that you don’t have enough money to invest in a mutual fund. However, as little as $100 can get you started in your trip to a rich mutual fund account, which will provide you with financially secure retirement. No trading costs exist when you invest in the majority of mutual funds, which allows you to invest small amounts of money. As compared to stock investing, the latter eats up a big portion of your money in terms of broker commissions and you end up with less money for investing.
In December 2004, a UNECA sponsored study conducted by CEMMATS Group Ltd., a local consulting firm, involved various stakeholders in the sector to formulate an energy policy. The CEMMAT’s energy agenda for Sierra Leone in terms of policy and management represents an important set of tools that basically encapsulates a multi-disciplinary structure bringing together sectors of the energy community – the Ministry of Energy and Power (MEP), the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MAFS), Presidential Petroleum Commission, and the Ministry of Mineral Resources (MMR). These line Ministries of relevance to the energy agenda, where their various roles are being specified, have dominated the development of the country’s energy policy. The basic premise of this multi-disciplinary structure is that it is crucial for the effective and efficient coordination of the management of the country’s indigenous energy resources. Nonetheless, it sounds as though it would be impossible to coordinate these so many organizations in a country with a history of corruption and mismanagement. But it is not unusual to have various Ministries working in coordination to achieve national development objectives. Besides, the specific tasks and methods of operation that influence the ability of these Ministries to create the enabling environment for private interests to ably conduct value added commercial activities with the country’s energy resources are defined.
