Some people still like the old-fashioned way of banking in which they can interact with human cashiers and tellers. For them, the online banking accounts could be quite uneasy to work with. Though technologically these accounts are quite advanced and secure, there are a lot of people who are still quite apprehensive about their ways of working and would not like to trust them with their money. That means that if there is only a very limited number of shares in a particular company available the demand for them will be far greater than if the market place is awash with them. So you can see that just like an auction where there are a lot of people who want what is on offer the price will increase to reflect that demand. For anyone looking to get started with investing they need to consider whether they will be investing a lump sum or regular monthly payments. With monthly savings they could consider looking at mutual funds as these will allow them to get a taste for the stock market while sharing the risks and rewards with others. One reason for this is because with all the abbreviations that the financial markets use you can sometimes find that you are looking for the wrong definition. That could be a major problem when your investments are at stake! Of course this is the age of the internet so as an alternative to books you can search for financial and stock market terminology online. Poor credit requires you to explain how you came to be in arrears and, just as importantly, why things are going to be different now. You see both the banks and the loan companies understand that from time to time anyone can fall on hard times. That's especially true with the current economic situation. The Venetian traders were probably the first ones to begin dealing with government securities and even back then there was insider trading going on. In fact as early as 1351 there was a law passed in Venice which was designed to stop people spreading rumors that would drive down prices. As more formal commerce spread around Europe so did the need to have stock markets.