You might get a call one of these days -- one that uses scare tactics by mentioning that you're about to lose your home or your freedom. They will sound convincing on the phone; armed with surprisingly accurate financial information about you. The caller will even tell you the only thing to prevent the police from busting through your door is an immediate payment of cash. If that doesn't sound like a scam, I don't know what does.

With the tax season upon us again, cases of identity theft have seen a spike across the states. Through the use of social engineering coupled with identity theft techniques, the unknown thieves have stolen from over 3000 individuals in the last 2 years. However, that just might be a modest number as not all who were victimized were willing to report to the authorities.

Estimates from Deep Blue Publications Group LLC place this particular scam as the largest ever, conning victims of over USD 15 million since it apparently started operating in 2013. What's more, the average loss of each person amounts to around USD 5000, with the largest known loss from a single individual at half a million dollars.

One strong reason that this scam works is the public's inherent fear of anything to do with IRS. Who would have thought these heavily-accented callers are actually located somewhere in India.

"They have information that only the Internal Revenue Service would know about you. It's a byproduct of today's society. There's so much information available on individuals," said the inspector in charge of investigations.

The best way to defend yourself from such scams is to be constantly informed. Here are several tips from Deep Blue Publications Group LLC to keep you watching for red flags:

- Always be on your guard. Whether it's reading your mail or picking up  your phone, you'd do well to focus your attention on it so you won't easily be fooled by merely hearing a trigger word.

- Slow down. Their goal is to get you to panic and lose your ability to think straight. They will exploit this as much as possible -- short-circuiting your thought processes by mentioning the police or some form of legal action that is supposedly being prepared against you. Don't fall for this.

- Verify. If you're really finding it hard to disregard what the caller is saying, just tell him to call back in a few minutes. Once you get him off the line, call the official number of IRS at once to confirm if the caller's story is true.

- Just ignore it. If you get such a call, don't talk and just hang up. Remember: IRS will not ask for your payment through wire transfer or debit card -- nor will they use the phone as the first means of official communication.

Olet huolimaton oman talouden? Jos vastaus on kyllä, älä masennu. Et ole yksin. On monia ympärilläsi, jotka voivat olla yhtä avuton at käsittelyyn rahansa. Tämä voi olla joko aito kyvyttömyys saada yksi on talouden tai silkkaa tietämättömyyttä siitä, miten saada asiansa kuntoon.

Niille, jotka eivät ole kiinnostuneita oppia raha-asioiden hoitamisesta on vaikeaa ja usein tylsää. “Personal finance ymmärtäminen on hyvin alhainen Intiassa. Tutkimuksemme osoittaa, että useimmat ihmiset eivät edes tiedä eroa sijoittaa ja säästää,”sanoo Juzer Tambawalla, VP & pää, markkinointiviestintä, Franklin Templeton AMC.

On sanomattakin selvää, että oppiminen suunnitella talouden on tärkeää pitkän aikavälin hyvinvointia. “Jos henkilö on taloudellisesti lukutaito, hän on enemmän tietoisia mahdollisuuksia, jotka tulevat hänen tavalla. Säästäminen ja sijoittaminen käsite on muuttunut ajan myötä. Taloudellista tietoa auttaa määritellä elämänlaatua,”sanoo Saara Ashar Sebi rekisteröity investointi neuvonantajana ja perustaja, Full Circle rahoitussuunnitelma.

Kuitenkin oppia hallitsemaan oman taloutensa on yhä helpompaa joitakin uusia internet-pohjaisia pelejä tuodaan markkinoille nostaa pelaajan Tietoa osamäärä. Esimerkiksi kriketti rakastava Intiassa Franklin Templeton rahasto on tuonut investointi massoista kautta FundtasticCup, jossa kriketti termeillä yhdistää pelaaja peli. Samoin Visa on luonut talouslukutaito peli mallinnettu jalkapallo yhteistyössä FIFA kutsutaan taloudellinen jalkapallo vedota Yhdysvaltain kansalaisia.

Jason Oltermanni, johtaja, maailmanlaajuinen taloudellinen osaaminen, Visa Inc, sanoo osana “Käytännön rahaa taidot elämä”, Visa on luonut kokoelma opettavaisia pelejä auttaa opettaa kaikenikäisille talousasioiden hallinta. Hän lisää, “opetuksen kuluttajille rahaa”edutainment”tai”gamification”on tehokas keino edesauttaneen monimutkainen aihe käyttämällä pakottavia ja tuttu keskipitkällä videopelien oppia samalla hauskaa.”

Oppiminen finance kautta simulaatiot featuring todellisesta tilanteesta on ehkä paras tapa poimia aiheesta. Tämä painotus näkyy pelejä tueta rahoituslaitos Yhdysvalloissa. Vaikka jotkut seurata Berättare lähestymistapa, jossa peli etenee tarina, toiset katsoa luovia tapoja aloittaa tietokoneen tai matkapuhelimen välityksellä.

Fundtastic Cup on tietovisa-lomakkeessa. Henkilö vastaa kysymyksiin ja jokaiseen kysymykseen pidetään pallo. Yli koostuu 10 palloa. Näin ollen henkilö on vastata 10 kysymykseen edetä seuraavalle kierrokselle.

Toinen peli talouskysymyksissä verkkosivuilla, zapak.com, on nimeltään Game rahaa. Kehitetty intialaista sijoittajat mielessä tässä pelissä saat virtuaalista rahaa, joka voidaan myöntää koko rahoitustuotteita, kuten rahastot, vakuutukset, kiinteistöjen, varastot, jne. Pelaaja aloittaa noppien ja hahmo kävelee että monet neliöt aluksella. Paikka, jossa pelaaja lopettaa kuvaillaan tilannetta, esimerkiksi osakemarkkinoilla on laskenut tai kasvanut ja salkun osoittaa samoin. Voit myös korjata talon ja niin rahat on käytetty acccordingly.

Suuri säästöpossu seikkailu on toinen peli, joka auttaa sinua parantamaan taloudellisia lukutaitoon. Peli saatavilla matkapuhelimiin, pyrkii auttamaan osallistujat oppivat tärkeitä talouden suunnittelu. Ilmainen online mini peli on kehittänyt T Rowe hinta yhteistyössä Walt Disney Imagineering. Vaikka tämä peli on kehitetty sijoittajien koulutuksessa Yhdysvalloissa, Jaettu käsitteitä ja peli on suunniteltu tapa varmistaa ihmiset mistä tahansa maasta voi pelata ja oppia samaan aikaan.

T Rowe hinnan mukaan peli luojana financial vinkkejä ja määrittää tärkeitä käsitteitä kuten tavoitteiden asettaminen, tallentaminen ja menot järkevästi, inflaatio, varojensa ja monipuolistaminen.

Mutta usko, että pelit ovat kaikki samanlaisia. {mosgallery}, esimerkiksi, on tarina ja oppimista. Pelin tarkoituksena on auttaa opiskelijoita oppimaan miten torjua petoksia. Vaikka tämä peli keskittyy amerikkalaisille sijoittajille, ihmiset kiinnostunut osakemarkkinoiden ja mysteeri on mielenkiintoista. Peli näyttää lapsi otetaan ohjeen eri ihmisiä paljastamaan miljoonan dollarin petos. Se myös opettaa kuinka kaivaa sanomalehti kaluston taulukot, tutkia yritysten online Uutiset ja erottaa investointi ja petollinen myynti piki.

Bad news always makes the headlines, while good news is rarely reported and, over the past 15 years we’ve seen constant negative headlines when it comes to stock markets. We’ve witnessed two huge market crashes, with the end of the tech bubble in 1999 and the recent financial crisis of 2008 resulting in almost 50% declines. Then every few months we hear of another company blowing up. The latest examples are Tesco, Balfour Beatty and Quindell, and there have also been the Madoff and Enron fraud scandals!

So it’s not surprising that most ordinary people view the market as a risky gamble, which may or may not pay off. However, for the most part, our stock market works well and has actually produced some good returns over the long term. Investing is also not nearly as hard as you might think. Anyone can do it, and be successful, as long as they understand a few basic principles.

The 10 tips

1. First, pay off any high interest debt, such as credit cards or bank loans, before you even consider investing. This is less a principle and more a golden rule! There’s no point investing when you’re paying huge interest on debts.

2. Then consider your goal and your investment time horizon. If you’re saving for a house deposit and plan to buy in the next couple of years, then investing in the stock market is probably not appropriate because a big fall in the market might prevent you from reaching your goal. The key point to remember is that the longer your time horizon the better chance you have of making money in the stock market. If you’re going to be investing for over 10 years you should consider some exposure to the stock market.

3. Think about your risk tolerance and be honest. Some people just can’t handle the swings of the stock market and it causes them sleepless nights. If you’re one of these people you shouldn’t be investing in stocks. Be aware that the stock market will almost certainly go through a major crash in the future but it’s impossible to know when. Prepare yourself for this before you invest. Unfortunately many smaller investors sell out at the bottom of the market after a big sell-off and miss out on the subsequent rally. That’s exactly what you want to avoid.

4. Buy a fund not a stock. Buying a single stock can be very risky, even if you hear a great tip from a mate in the pub! Choosing stocks that will beat the overall market is hard and requires a huge amount of time, energy and experience. Remember if you’re buying an individual stock you’re saying you know more than all the other professional investors in the market. So consider buying a fund instead. If one or two stocks in the fund go bust you won’t lose all your money. There are two types of fund, passive and active. Passive funds simply try and match the entire performance of a stock market as best they can. Active funds employ a fund manager who actively takes positions and tries to beat the market. It’s much easier to research a fund than it is a stock. Websites such as fundcalibre.com provide a list of managers who have historically been skilful, as well as performance data and free research on their favourite funds. As you become a more experienced investor you may decide to invest in individual stocks but you shouldn’t if you’re a beginner.

5. Diversify. A classic investing mistake is when an investor puts all their money in a single stock, only for them to lose all their money when the stock crashes. By investing in a fund that makes many different investments, you immediately diversify and protect yourself. You can also diversify by region (UK, Europe and Asia, for example), company size and asset class – you don’t have to invest in stocks, you can also invest in bond funds or property funds, for example. Bonds are money that is lent to governments, corporations and municipalities in return for periodic interest payments. They have typically given a lower return, but they are generally much less volatile than stocks and, even more importantly, they often do well when equities are doing badly.

6. Understand what your investment. Whatever sort of investment you choose, make sure you understand it. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Check a fund’s underlying investments on the factsheet. The Madoff scandal happened because no one bothered to check what he was actually doing. Beginner investors may want to check that their fund is an onshore fund. An onshore fund protects you in cases of fraud to the value of £50,000 per fund group. Of course this doesn’t mean you’re protected if the value of the fund’s investments fall.

7. Start small. You don’t need to be rich to invest. For example, at Chelsea Financial Services you can invest with as little £50. Even making a small investment will get you in the habit of saving and following it will help you to build up your financial knowledge.

8. Consider monthly savings. You don’t have to invest all your money at once. One of the best ways to start is by investing monthly. By investing monthly you can invest gradually, enabling you to take advantage when prices fall. Putting a fixed amount into a fund every month, regardless of market behaviour, is known as ‘pound-cost averaging’. Monthly investing promotes the discipline of saving, whereby a small amount invested every month over several years can build into a sizeable nest egg.

9. Get value for money. Charges matter and unfortunately many providers aren’t transparent. At Chelsea we only have our service charge (0.4% a year) and a Cofunds platform charge (0.2% a year). There are no other charges for anything else. Watch out for providers who take a minimum monthly charge or charge you for each transaction. There’s no point in investing £100 a month if there’s a minimum charge of £8 a month or if it costs £5 for each trade. Also watch out for the charges of the actual funds. Look at the OCF (ongoing charge figure) which includes the (annual management charge). An OCF of greater than 1% is very high and should be avoided in most cases.

10. Don’t trade your funds – there’s a big difference between a trader and an investor. Don’t pay too much attention to noise in the media. Beginners should not trade their investments. This can be expensive and is usually pointless. A wise man once said that the stock market is a very efficient mechanism of transferring money from the impatient to the patient. Choose your initial funds carefully and then review them every so often. Once every six months should be enough.