Those of us that invest a great deal of time managing our finances may think we know the answer to the question “how much is money worth?” While it’s a complex topic, we think we have a straightforward, quantitative, clear-cut answer which involves exchange rates and currencies and inflation and the passing of time. We pull out our calculators and let the numbers do the talking.

But there’s another way to look at how much money is worth that doesn’t involve numbers or currency conversions. I’m speaking here about the qualitative side of the coin and where finance fits into your value system and life goals.

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As tax season continues, and the deadline for filing taxes approaches, many people are finding out where their finances for last year netted out. While some people are getting the pleasant news that they’re getting a refund back and can plan accordingly, others are coming to the realization that they may owe a (potentially large) sum of money.

If the results revealed by your tax return come as a surprise to you it may put you in an uncomfortable financial situation, particularly if you owe money. We’ve often said on 22Dollars.com that no plan is a plan to fail, and it seems that this saying holds true in this case as well. Rather than scrambling to find a fast financial fix, it’s certainly going to be better for you both in the long and short run to do whatever you can to plan ahead for this type of expense.

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When it comes to money, everyone has something to say. Each person has an opinion, and these individual opinions can vary widely. From those that believe in high stakes investing to those that do not believe in investing at all, the things people say about finance can be quite different. But the bottom line is that everyone has something to say.

At the same time, finance can be one of the most difficult things to discuss, because it’s a very personal topic that links many of the things that make us who we are: our values, our emotions, our pride, our status, and how we make our living. However, throughout history many people have found a way to capture their sentiments about finance in ways that can help us all express our varied opinions on money, and have helped us learn a thing or two about this complex topic.

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2007 has probably been one of the greatest years for the commodity market where there has been exuberance across the globe. Gold has been one of the beneficiaries that has witnessed one of the most phenomenal and unprecedented increase in prices. Prices have been up by almost 80% in the last 2 years and approximately 35% during the year 2007.

Gold has generally been a counter-cyclical commodity. This is the reason why a general downturn in the economy is always accompanied by a rise in Gold prices. This time around, the increase was perpetrated by a rise in oil prices, and the weakening dollar. Liquidity also declined later in the year, decreasing investment demand and thereby pushing up prices further. Declining tensions amidst Iran and Syria also fueled the rally.

Other than serving as a perfect hedge against inflation, Gold has been a relatively risk free asset ensuring stable and consistent returns for its investors. Thus, in the wake of instable markets as well, the rise in demand for Gold as an investment tool has been on the rise.

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Chart pattern trading is something that takes a lot of discipline. By this I mean stock charts cannot look "kinda" like a pattern or have certain elements of a pattern. They need to match the pattern's characteristics by 100% or they will not work. Think of it like you are taking a test and the only way to pass is to get exactly a 100%. Anything less and you could be setting yourself up for danger.

The Ascending Triangle chart pattern is one of the most easily identifiable patterns and also one of my favorites to trade upon a confirmed breakout. Correctly identifying this pattern has made me a lot of money in the past and continues to prove itself as one of most profitable trades. The pattern is a bullish pattern sporting a triangle shape with a horizontal top and upward sloping bottom.

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If you’re a fan of Wall Street Warriors or stay on top of the financial publishing scene, you’ve probably seen and heard Timothy Sykes’ name pretty frequently these days. Timothy’s recently released book, An American Hedge Fund: How I Made $2 Million as a Stock Operator and Created a Hedge Fund, details the true story of how he turned the $12,415 he received for his Bar Mitzvah into $1.65 million in just three years and all before he turned 26. Timothy sent 22Dollars.com a copy of his book (check out the fourth page to see our review!) and recently provided us with a behind-the-scenes look at the man, the myth and the market. Make sure to check out Timothy’s responses below and grab a copy of his book if you haven’t already!

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As investors scramble to make sense of the short term terrors that pester the markets (GM’s $39 billion write off, E-Trades bankruptcy scares, Blackstones quartly loss and two major financial houses giving the boot to their CEO’s all in a weeks span), I was busy looking for opportunities with a touch of international flavor.

ClickSoftware Technologies (CKSW:NASDAQ, SECTOR: Technology, INDUSTRY: Software & Programming), based out of Givat Shmuel, Isreal (founded in 1979), describes themselves as a provider of mobile workforce management and service optimization solutions. The company’s products are used by customers in the telecommunications, utilities, financial services, aerospace, defense, semi-conductor, and home service industries. The Company;s Service Optimization suite includes workforce planning, optimized service scheduling, intelligent problem resolution, mobile workforce management, and business analytics, connecting various organizational levels. The Company’s Service Optimization solutions suite includes ClickSchedule, ClickAnalyze, ClickPlan, ClickForecast, ClickFix, ClickMobile and ClickLocate.

It markets and sells its products through direct sales force located in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region, as well as through reseller agreements with partners. With over 50% of CKSW’s business coming from overseas, this was the international exposure I was looking for. Now for a quick technical and fundamental breakdown of the stock and why it goes higher from here.

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Cleantech - the new buzz word which is cut across industries and geographies has always had a mystical presence in the minds of a neophyte.

So what is all the euphoria about cleantech?

As the Cleantech Indices simplify cleantech as “Clean is more than green”.

Clean technology, or “cleantech”, should not be confused with the terms environmental technology or green technology popularized in the 1970’s and 80’s.

Cleantech is new technology and related business models offering competitive returns for investors and customers while providing solutions to global challenges.

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Everyone nowadays is gung-ho about emerging markets. And why not? Emerging markets are currently the world's fastest growing economies. Hence, it is of not much surprise that more and more money has been finding its way into these markets. The largest markets for FII inflows are India and China. India for one has been a recipient of huge inflows owing to the fact that the Indian economy is one of the fastest growing economies of the world clocking a 9.3% GDP growth rate in 2006-2007. This growth has been witnessed since 1991, when the Indian Government decided to liberalize the economy.

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The Cup and Handle pattern has long been my favorite patterns to trade. This short-term bullish continuation pattern gets its name from looking like a rounded cup with a handle on the right side. The primary reason that I like this pattern so much is the low failure rate it sports compared to other chart patterns. This is especially true when dealing with industry leaders. The average rise for this pattern is an appetizing 34%.

One of biggest mistakes that amateur traders make is being quick to jump to the conclusion that just because a pattern they found is rounded, that it is a cup and handle. The cup and handle pattern has a lot of criteria and should not be confused with several other patterns out there that look similar to it. Lets run through the some very important criteria to make a pattern a true cup and handle. If the pattern fails to meet anyone of these, it should not be considered a cup and handle.

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Over summer vacation many students work hard at jobs they may or may not like, earning money to help them get through the school year. This is perhaps especially true for college students who, away from home for the first time, are just getting their feet wet with managing their expenses (of which there are many) on a shoe-string budget.

As college students are settling into the fall semester, many are probably realizing how quickly the money they earned over the summer can go. When you’re a full-time student it can be difficult to find ways to earn enough money to cover your expenses during the school year. As a result, it’s vital that college students are smart about how they spend their money and maintain a strict budget.

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Back in July we talked about an opportunity in Eastman Kodak (NYSE:EK) and today we are still bullish on the stock. Since our previous post, the stock continues to trade sideways but not with out direction. Some of you may have noticed the resistance around $28.50 - $29.00 but also take the series of higher lows over the past couple weeks. The stocks now forms an ascending triangle as it searches for the necessary volume needed to break the above resistance. Despite the technical setup here and bullish nature of the stock over the last year, we see reason for concern fundamentally.

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Credit rating agencies assign grades to bonds that signify a mark of financial soundness and regularity in interest and principal payments. The ratings range from AAA for the highest quality bond instruments to BBB for medium quality bond instruments to CCC for low quality bond instruments, and D for instruments in default. They also have various sub ratings within them. These ratings are regularly updated and published in various investment sites and blogs.

An interesting article by Tara Perkins & Boyd Erman titled "Misguided or Misunderstood?" mentions the history of credit rating agencies. They originated in the 1860's when Henry Varnum Poor and his son Henry William Poor published the Manual of Railroads of the United States. Followed by John Moody in 1910, who began analyzing railroads and assigning ratings to them. Soon after, in the 1930's, it was established that ratings must be assigned to bonds and commercial papers.

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We’ve often said on this site that “no one cares more about your money than you.” While this is the truth, it may not exactly be the whole truth. In reality there are a lot of people out there that care a great deal about your money, perhaps just not in quite the same way as you. Although not quite as concise, perhaps we should update this favorite phrase of ours to state “everyone cares about how you spend your money, but no one cares more about keeping it safe than you do…” or something along those lines. At the end of the day, you’ve got to be a self advocate and be responsible for making your own good decisions, regardless how many people out there are trying to take a share of your hard-earned money.

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A while ago in foretime, our Asian counterparts dealt with a crisis similar to the one US is wrestling to deal with today. The crisis was purported the 'Asian Financial Crisis' that plagued the Asian economies in 1997. The crisis was characteristically similar, yet fundamentally different that the one we are faced with today. Yet laced with innumerable similarities makes it an interesting revelation to note that, "History does repeat itself".

Let us see how. The Asian financial crisis affected South East Asia in particular and was the fallout of a mismanaged debt policy. At that juncture, interest rates were exorbitant, in order to lure foreign investors to invest their surpluses. This influx of cash led to high growth rates which led to a nation wide investment in fixed capital assets without a corresponding growth in factor productivity.

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While the myriad mind of us individuals is perpetually engaged in toiling for our livelihood, we would like to invest our prized green bucks in assets that will not only conserve our capital, but will cultivate it to cumulate it into a sizable corpus. Moreover, while most of us know what to do with our money, some of us are inept at financial discernment or just too hard pressed on time to invest on our own. At the same time, we are responsible for our investments that will carry us through our retirement.

Lifecycle funds/ target date mutual funds offer a solution for investors managing their retirement portfolios and are 'buy one' mutual funds that invest in a mass of underlying funds. It is a sort of fund of funds that invests in a combination of debt and equity in a particular way that the allocation turns conservative as soon as one's retirement age approaches.

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Usually CNBC's Jim Cramer, host of the popular "Mad Money" show, is passionate about what he says, whether it be his current stock picks or general market commentary. Today is the 9th consecutive meeting that the Fed has left rates untouched. Jim predicts a rate cut in October. The next Fed meeting is planned for September 18th, 2007.

The video below is of Mr. Cramer at seemingly at his witts ends with respect to Bernanke's "by the books" approach to handling federal monetary policy issues. What is tricky in my opinion is that either way you argue the rate debate there is strong points for both sides. Some would argue higher rates could destroy the housing market and start the economy into a downward spiral. Lower rates could help fuel the inflation concerns. Some, as seen below, feel more strongly than others.

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Today the markets took a big hit due to credit market concerns. Worries about the subprime mortgage problems and increasingly difficult environment for corporate borrowing has sent the DOW tumbling over 400 points this afternoon. While many of our readers may look at today as a waste, others see it as an opportunity to get back into stocks they missed earlier this year. One such example is Ericsson Telephone Co (NASDAQ: ERIC). ERIC is a member of the Communications Services ($COMSRV) sector that has seen a good steady flow of institutional money over the last several months. Today it hits what we like to call it's "injection point" or level of critical support. A breach of these levels would send the stock tumbling and break and the long term up trend it has endured since the beginning of 2006.

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Maintaining a budget that is both reasonable and realistic is one of the more difficult things that we face in our daily lives. There is a fine line between what we want and what we really need to get by as bills mount and the misery of getting behind looms in the near distance. Oftentimes, we find ourselves using payday loans to help us catch up and save ourselves the problems that can arise when bills and other expenses begin to overwhelm us. These payday loans are exceptional at allowing us to keep up and were created as short term loans in times of need. The careful use of these loans is imperative as they can also cause problems and headaches if not used responsibly.

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Futures and Options markets are valuable tool for investors who would like a fair measure of diversification. Derivatives are useful tools used widely for hedging and speculation purposes. With the option of trading these derivatives with significant leverage, many investors have turned to the derivatives markets. The volumes generated in these markets are huge and provide a storehouse of data, which can be used as insightful predictors of the market sentiments.

The futures markets exhibit various cues that can be used as valuable inputs to gauge the direction of the markets and that of individual stocks. Some of these cues are as below-

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A few weeks ago I went to a museum featuring life and society in the 1800’s. Seeing the stark contrasts between life then and now got me thinking about how the technological developments that have happened in that span of time have impacted the way we handle daily tasks.

Some have said that there have been more technological changes in the last 100 years than in the previous 1,000 years before that. Certainly such changes have impacted every aspect of our lives, from travel to dining to housing to healthcare. Despite the obvious inflation that has occurred since the 1800’s, there have also been developments in how we make, manage and spend our money as a result of technological developments. Here are my thoughts…

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Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) is the world's foremost imaging innovator. With sales of $10.7 billion in 2006, the company now focuses on its digital transition and traditional products and services to take, print and share pictures anytime, anywhere.

The companies first quarter earning were enough to get the stock to break through significant levels of resistance. From here, the stock has pulled back nicely and in doing so has presented us with an opportunity to buy back in on solid support levels. The magic number of Kodak's stock here is $27.09. At this level (which EK is fast approaching), the stock should see strong support. I look for the bounce to occur very close of this number. The graph below illustrates the resistance level and clearly shows the declining volume levels as the stock sells off into our buying range.

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Since finishing school in May and June, many college graduates are realizing that there are many new experiences, challenges and opportunities ahead. Between finding a job, moving away from home, leaving comfortable sets of friends behind and giving up the flexible college schedule for the more rigid 9-5 work week, there are many changes that come with finishing school.

In addition to all these changes, students also begin to work toward achieving financial independence. Throughout college, most people find that there is more money going out than coming in, as they are paying for tuition and living expenses and have little or no time to hold down a paying job. As a result a certain amount of debt accumulates. While there is the plus side that finishing college means graduates will have