In emerging markets, up to 80% of the population may have to rely on informally-run public transport to get around. Literally, privately-run buses and cars. But journey-planning apps that work well for commuters in developed markets like New York or London do not work well in emerging markets, which is why you cant just flip open an app like Citymapper in Lagos, Nigeria. Furthermore, mobility is a fundamental driver of social, political, and economic growth. If you cannot get around, you cant grow as a country, so its pretty important for these emerging economies.

WhereIsMyTransport specialises in mapping these formal and informal public transport networks in emerging markets. They have mapped 34 cities in Africa and are mapping cities in India, Southeast Asia and Latin America. Its integrated mobility API includes proprietary algorithms, features and capabilities designed for complex transit networks in these emerging markets.

Its now raised a $7.5 million Series A funding round led by Liil Ventures, that also includes returning investors Global Innovation Fund and Goodwell Investments, plus new strategic investment from Google, Nedbank, and Toyota Tsusho Corporation (TTC).

The platform now has more than 750,000 km of routes in 39 cities and the new strategic investment will drive further international expansion.

Devin de Vries, said: We make the invisible visible, by collecting all kinds of data related to public transport and turning the data into information that can be shared with the people who need it most. In emerging markets, the mobility ecosystem is complex; informal public transport doesnt behave like formal public transport. Data and technology solutions that work well in London or San Francisco wouldnt make anything like the same impact, if any at all, in the cities where we work. Our solutions are designed specifically to overcome these contextual challenges.

Mr. Masato Yamanami, Automotive Divisions CEO of Toyota Tsusho Corporation, also said that our divisions global network, that covers 146 countries, is primarily focused on new emerging countries where people rely on informal public transport. Through strategic collaboration with WhereIsMyTransport, we will establish better and more efficient mobility services that help to resolve social challenges and contribute to the overall economic development of nations, primarily emerging nations.

Finally, Alix Peterson Zwane, Chief Executive Officer of Global Innovation Fund, said: Informal and often unreliable mass transit is a significant problem that disproportionately affects poor people. We are excited to continue to work with WhereIsMyTransport to make mass transportation in emerging cities more accessible and more efficient.

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Google, Toyota invest in WhereIsMyTransport to map transport in emerging cities - TechCrunch

Recent financial headlines have been consumed with the coronavirus, which after originating in China has since spread to other countries rapidly, advancing into South Korea, Italy and Iran before making its way to other parts of the world, including the U.S. In all, the number of infections has topped 83,000, while the death toll is approaching 3,000, according to the most recent estimates.

Its hard to know for sure what type of long-term risk this will present to the market. Whats clear now, however, is that investors are spooked. That has prompted the worst week for equities since the financial crisis, punctuated by Thursdays nearly 1,200-point dive, which has the indexes squarely in correction territory.

Make no mistake, this will pose a serious test to many countries healthcare systems and economies. At the same time, markets are resilient, always bouncing back from big challenges, whether its the bursting of the dot-com bubble or other health crises like SARS.

This time around, the same will likely hold true. Despite this weeks carnage, U.S. markets are still up since the end of May, while the broader economy remains strong, with last months job and wage growth numbers exceeding expectations.

Of course, a global supply chain disruption that lingers for months could result in a meaningful downtick in corporate earnings. Apple, for one, has warned that the coronavirus will hamper iPhone production and sales.

A long line of other large firms have issued similar warnings, including United Airlines, Microsoft and Mastercard. Apart from Clorox, in fact, its hard to think of a company that has not been impacted negatively. By year-end, however, its reasonable to expect that supply lines and demand for goods will return to normal.

Another reason to remain somewhat optimistic is that the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world will likely do all they can to prop up local businesses and prevent short-term consumption reductions from spiraling out of control. That means already low interest rates will go even lower, boosting the case for equities over the long term.

BUYING OPPORTUNITIES

All this presents an opportunity for investors. Airlines, theme parks, movies and cruise lines whose businesses rely on large groups of people coming in close proximity to each other are among the worst hit. (Cruise line revenues might have quite some time to wait before rising again, since travelers often have to book their tickets months in advance).

But big companies in these industries that were stable before the coronavirus outbreak will stay in operation after all the dust settles. So, for investors, this is a chance to pounce, especially when many of these firms are trading at a sizable discount.

Airlines such as Delta, theme park operators and movie producers like Disney, or even cruise ship companies such as Royal Caribbean are unlikely to suffer for long. The same is true for major, state-favored Chinese firms, such as Alibaba or Baidu.

X-FACTORS

What could go wrong with this scenario? A lot. The biggest risk is that consumption across major economies begins to evaporate, which could inflict major damage on a long line of small and mid-sized businesses, possibly causing them to fold and triggering localized recessions across the globe.

Similarly, a serious domestic coronavirus outbreak would significantly expand the timeline for downside risk. Luckily, though, the U.S. is far more prepared to contend with the fallout, not only because the element of surprise is gone, but also thanks to the quality of its medical facilities and emergency response capabilities.

Its certainly conceivable that even the gloomiest of forecasts could come true. Nevertheless, markets and hard-hit sectors will recover. They always do.

After all, major stock price slides are relatively common over the long-term, with markets averaging about three 5% pull backs per year since 1950. For more historical perspective, consider that the S&P shed 5.5% over an eight-day stretch in the wake of the SARS outbreak during March 2003. A year later, it was up more than 35%.

The markets will always face challenges. Without discounting the devastation that the coronavirus has heaped on thousands of families, this is simply the latest one and we will be all right when its over. So, its time to take advantage of this recent tumble in prices as an opportunity to get aggressive.

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Invest Like The Markets Will Overcome The Coronavirus, Because They Will - Forbes

Keeping calm when markets crash is easier said than done. It is human nature to be fearful when things look bad and the outlook suddenly becomes bleak. Today, Mr. Market (as Benjamin Graham puts it) is testing the patience and courage of investors once again. The Dow declined more than 1,000 points twice this week, making it difficult for investors to keep a clear head.

Source: CNBC.

American stocks have declined for seven consecutive days, and according to Bloomberg data, February 2020 is on its way to becoming the worst month since December 2018.

Source: Bloomberg.

Both the Dow and the S&P 500 Index were down over 10.5% as of Thursday, making this week the worst since the days of the financial crisis.

If ever there was a need to reiterate the importance of staying invested in equity markets, it's now. Investors need reassurance that things will return to their normal state soon, but right now, there's panic.

SunTrust Chief Market Strategist Keith Lerner told Bloomberg on Friday:

"Investors are selling stocks first and asking questions later. We are seeing signs of pure liquidation. 'Get me out at any cost' seems to be the prevailing mood. There is little doubt the coronavirus will continue to weigh on the global economy, and the U.S. will not be immune. There is much we do not know. However, it is also premature to suggest the base case for the U.S. economy is recession."

While that might provide some relief to investors in the sense that a renowned market commentator does not believe a recession is in the cards, investors need something more concrete than that to remain bold and go against the grain.

For 120 years, there has been one clear winner

Credit Suisse Research Institute released an important set of market data spanning 120 years, confirming that none of the popular asset classes could match the returns provided by equity markets. The report, prepared in collaboration with professors from London Business School and Cambridge University, revealed the following performance statistics.

Asset class

Annualized real return between 1900 and 2020

Equities

5.2%

Bonds

2%

Treasury bills

0.8%

The significant outperformance of equity markets reveals one thing: the risk-reward factor is always at play and as an economy grows, so will the stock markets. The ride is not always smooth, however, and there will be speedbumps along the way.

Trying to time the markets is a costly mistake, as Warren Buffet told CNBC earlier this week:

"There have been seven Republican Presidents after that (since buying his first stock at the age of 11) and seven Democratic Presidents and I have bought stocks under every one of them. I haven't bought stocks every day, there have been a few times I felt stocks were really quite high, but that is very seldom."

Further elaborating on his investment career, the guru said that he has bought stocks each year since making his first investment at a very young age. This highlights one important action that could deliver long-term success to investors; buy stocks when they are seemingly cheap, regardless of the macroeconomic or geopolitical outlook for America in the coming years. The country has survived many recessions, epidemics, property market bubbles and two World Wars. None of this could materially impact the long-term performance of stocks, however. Right when it looked as if things would never recover, American markets surprised investors.

Changes in investor sentiment could result in significant volatility in stock prices. However, none of this would likely matter in the long term as much as staying invested does. Numbers don't lie, at least not as much as sentiment and gut feelings do.

Story continues

One more reason to stay calm

Even though many investors might not be aware of this, missing just a few market days could completely erode the profitability of a portfolio. As surprising as this might sound, empirical evidence proves it. In 2019, JPMorgan Asset Management conducted a market performance review to evaluate this phenomena, using data from Jan. 1, 1999 to Dec. 31, 2018.

Source: JPMorgan.

Liquidating a portfolio and waiting for a better time to get in is a common strategy used by fearful investors. However, if such an investor failed to time the markets, which is almost a certainty, and missed just 20 days that ironically happened to be the best days of the market, he would have ended up losing money even though the market performance was positive in this period. What is even more interesting is that investors can never know with any degree of certainty when a bear market will turn bullish.

There's only one way to avoid making this mistake: to remain invested even when markets are crashing. Even though the rational decision might seem to be turning stocks to cash and parking in an interest-bearing account, the numbers prove this is a costly mistake. If, however, an investor had a mechanism to predict the best 10, 20 and 30 days of the market in advance, it would be best to liquidate and wait for such sunny times. But not even institutional investors have been able to decipher such a way to do this, even with the massive advance in quantitative analysis techniques.

Takeaway: Be patient

There's enough data to suggest that trusting U.S. markets even when they are crashing is the right decision. The best way to do this during trying times is to avoid constantly checking stock prices and the value of an investment portfolio as the mostly red numbers might prompt investors to act irrationally. Staying calm and patient is the key, and the market will do its magic as time passes by.

It seems appropriate to end this analysis with something Buffett told CNBC in 2016.

"If you had a chance to buy into a good company in your hometown...and you knew it was a good company and knew good people were running it, and you bought in at a fair price, you wouldn't want to get a quote every day."

Disclosure: I do not own any stocks mentioned in this article.

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A Good Reason Why You Should Stay Invested Despite the Bloodbath - Yahoo Finance

Over the past several decades, the cost of college has steadily climbed, causing a student debt crisis and creating a climate of skepticism about the true value of a college degree.

A recent Gallup poll of more than 2,000 American adults reveals that roughly half of Americans don't see college as a necessity.

But according to a new survey from college planning website BestColleges of 817 American adults who have actually earned a bachelor's degree, 82% say their degree was a "good financial investment."

Still, 61% of those surveyed said they would change one thing their major.

Those who said their degree was worth the investment are likely correct.

According to The College Board, the average student debt total among those who take out loans to pay for college is roughly $29,000.

However, the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that a bachelor's degree is worth $2.8 million over a lifetime, on average

Indeed, there is still reason to believe in the conventional wisdom that a college degree can be a clear path to stronger job opportunities and higher earnings.

In 2018, college graduates earned weekly wages that were 80% higher than those of high school graduates, according to the Federal Reserve. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Americans with a bachelor's degree have median weekly earnings of $1,173, compared to just $712 a week for those who have a high school diploma.

While hard skills can help college graduates reach these higher earnings, respondents said that learning soft skills was actually the most valuable part of their college experience. Over 40% of those polled felt that mastering soft skills like creativity, critical thinking and communication was the most beneficial.

Less than 6% of graduates said that their alma mater's reputation was the most valuable part of college.

"It isn't about name recognition. It isn't prestige. It's literally the skills and their experiences that are helping people every day in their jobs," Quinn Tomlin, public relations manager for BestColleges tells CNBC Make It.

In fact, when LinkedIn analyzed hundreds of thousands of job postings, they found that the most in-demand skill that employers were looking for was creativity.

Around 61% of those polled by BestColleges said they would go back and change their major if they could.

"People are going back and realizing that maybe the major that they studied is not actually aligning with the outcomes that they want in their life," explains Tomlin.

Around 26% of degree holders said they would change majors to pursue their passions, and 25% said they would change majors for better job opportunities.

Tomlin recommends that students who are unsure about what they are passionate about take a gap year to explore their options or to begin their college career at a community college so that they can try out different classes at a lower cost.

"Take the time to really get your foundation down and explore what you're interested in at a fraction of the cost," she says. "Then transfer to a university when you're really ready."

Students should also consider their financial realities after college. There is a wide range in how much graduates earn based on what they study and what fields they pursue careers in.

"Choosing a major might seem like no big deal, but it's one of the few choices you make as a 19- or 20-year-old that can have an outsized impact on your entire career and possibly your whole life," Chris Kolmar, co-founder of career planning site Zippia, previously told CNBC Make It. "When you're selecting a college major, you should consider how that choice will set you up for your career. If you're looking to snag a high-paying job out of college, you should ideally look for a subject you're passionate about, but that there's also a market for on the hiring front."

One tool at students' disposal is the College Scorecard, which allows them to see the median earnings and median debt of a school's graduates, based on their chosen field of study.

Science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields typically dominate lists of the highest-earning college majors and most in-demand jobs.

Check out: The best credit cards of 2020 could earn you over $1,000 in 5 years

Don't miss:

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82% of college grads believe their bachelor's degree was a good investmentbut most would make this one change - CNBC

Assemblyman Marc Levine, D-Marin County, has introduced Assembly Bill 3258, which would require property insurance providers to take into consideration local government investments in wildfire prevention when determining insurance rates.

California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and a group of Legislators earlier this month introduced Assembly Bill 2367, which is being called Renew California. That bill would require admitted insurance companies to write or renew policies for existing homes in communities that meet a new statewide standard for fire-hardening. The bill also would authorize the insurance commissioner to require insurance companies to offer financial incentives for homeowners to do the work to make their homes more fire-safe.

Devastating wildfires throughout California over the past several years have forced local governments to rethink their role in reducing future wildfire risk. Marin and Sonoma County voters are being asked on the March 3 ballot to make a specific investment to prevent wildfires in their communities.

The proposed Measure C in Marin County would levy a parcel tax on commercial and residential parcels to raise approximately $19.3 million per year solely for wildfire prevention programs. The proposed Measure G in Sonoma County is a half-cent countywide sales tax which, if passed, would generate about $51 million a year for county fire agencies to increase preparedness and better combat the ongoing threat of devastating wildfire.

Under Levines AB 3258, property owners in areas that have adopted dedicated local fire prevention programs would be able to renew a property insurance policy in a historically high-risk area or potential modifications to property insurance premiums.

AB 3258 will be considered by the State Assembly this spring.

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California Bill Aimed at Property Insurance in Communities Investing in Wildfire Prevention - Insurance Journal

Mexico is an emerging market, but it's rarely mentioned in the same breath as higher-growth countries like China or India. The country's GDP growth decelerated over the past five years, and it's still struggling withpoverty, crime, and corruption.

Yet there are flickers of hope on the horizon. The trade war between the U.S. and China caused some companies to move their manufacturing plants to Mexico to avoid tariffs. Mexico's poverty rates arealso gradually receding, and its per capita income rose from $5,481 to $9,673 between 1998 and 2018.

That's why it wasn't surprising when Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) recently announced that it would invest $1.1 billion in Mexico over the next five years. In a video released by the Mexican government, CEO Satya Nadella stated that Microsoft would build a new data center in Mexico and invest in new training labs and programs across the country.

Image source: Getty Images.

Nadella, who met with Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador last year, stated that the investment would expand "access to digital technology for people and organizations across the country." Let's dig deeper to see what Microsoft's investment tells us about its future plans for Latin America.

Microsoft generated 51% of its revenue fromthe United States in fiscal 2019. The rest came from "other countries," but Microsoft doesn't break down its international sales by individual countries or regions. However, it noted that no country outside of the United States generated more than 10% of its revenue.

Mexico is the15th-largest economy in the world, so it probably only accounts for a low single-digit percentage of Microsoft's annual revenue. Nonetheless, planting roots in Mexico could still benefit Microsoft in several ways.

Image source: Getty Images.

First, it will expand the global presence of its cloud platform Azure, which isavailable in 56 regions and 140 countries worldwide. The majority of its data centers are concentrated in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It only operates two data centers in Africa, and its single center in Latin America is located in Brazil.

Building a new data center in Mexico would significantly boost Azure's capacity in Latin America. Azure -- whichgenerated 62% annual revenue growth last quarter -- is the core growth engine of Microsoft's commercial cloud unit, which grew its revenue 39% to $12.5 billion (34% of its top line) last quarter.

Microsoft could tether more Mexican businesses to Azure, which would widen its moat against its larger rival Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) Web Services (AWS). AWS currently offers three availability zones, all based in Brazil, for Latin America.

Microsoft could also bundle other commercial cloud services (like Office 365 and Dynamics 365) with Azure. Some of Azure's topcustomers, including Walmart (NYSE:WMT), also operate in Mexico -- so a regional data center could tighten Microsoft's grip on Walmart's Mexican businesses. Microsoft's investments in training labs could also produce skilled Mexican workers who could run its regional operations for lower wages than workers in other countries.

Microsoft's investment in Mexico is considered a rare victory for President Lopez Obrador's left-wing administration, which waspreviously criticized for implementing rigid business regulations that stifled local and foreign investments. Neither Microsoft nor the Mexican government revealed the exact terms of the deal, but the tech giant could be receiving tax breaks or other benefits for setting up shop in Mexico.

$1.1 billion over a period of five years -- or $220 million a year -- is pocket change for Microsoft, which isexpected to generate $142 billion in revenue this year. In short, it's a small price to pay to boost Azure's presence in Latin America, widen its moat against Amazon, and gain a firm foothold in an oft-overlooked emerging market.

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Microsoft Is Investing Over $1 Billion in This Unloved Emerging Market - The Motley Fool

Since investors rarely behave according to financial and economic theory, behavioural finance has grown over the past twenty years.

Most investors know that emotion affects the way in which investment decisions are made and that greed and fear play a large role in driving investment markets. The actions of many investors are based on feelings rather than facts. They may make decisions based on a host of emotional biases that, unfortunately, undermine the chance of meeting the desired investment outcomes.

Admittedly, it is difficult to escape the influence of emotions on investment decision making, and that influence is more than likely the main reason many investors do not achieve the results they want. Our brains regularly set little traps for us and these emotional potholes may have very real costs associated with them. Crucial in overcoming this risk is awareness of how emotions can affect decisions, which may make you a better investor in the process.

In order to improve decision-making and investment results, it certainly helps to be aware of:

Some of the most common biases

Herd mentality

Our emotions may be influenced by the prevailing investment climate such as a fear of standing out from the crowd or missing out on a trend. Herd behaviour/mentality can amplify the market upswings and downturns and a prominent example was the dotcom bubble in the late 1990s.

Venture capitalists and private investors made frantic moves to invest huge amounts of money into internet companies, despite the fact that many of those dotcoms not having financially sound business models. Many investors more than likely moved their money in this way, on the reassurance they received from seeing so many other investors do the same thing. They did not want to miss out and followed the herd of sheep rather than their logic.

Greed and fear

This relates to an old Wall Street saying that financial markets are driven by two powerful emotions greed and fear. Succumbing to these emotions can have a profound and detrimental effect on investment outcomes, as too often, investors enter (on greed) or exit (on fear) the market at precisely the wrong time.

Overconfidence

Overconfidence may cause investors to overestimate the quality of their judgment or information. Some investors believe they can successfully predict market downturns and rallies. Others perceive themselves to have a knowledge advantage when they get a tip from someone in finance or read information from a publication or research report. In reality, several studies have shown that overconfidence bias leads investors to trade more frequently in an effort to align their positions with current market conditions.

The cost of frequent trading erodes returns and returns earned are rarely sufficient to make up the difference. Investors are very susceptible to forgetting the times they were incorrect or recognising the role that luck played in positive outcomes.

If you ever find yourself saying things such as nothing could ever go wrong, I believe it will go forever, or I know the risks, it may be time to check yourself. It is important to remember that every investment carries some risk and the potential for loss.

Loss aversion

The basic concept behind loss aversion is that investors feel losses much more than they feel gains. Investors would rather avoid losses than reap rewards. Loss aversion is often seen in financial markets stock market investors hold their positions with paper losses too long and sell their investment holding paper gains too early.

Consider an investment bought for R1 000 that rises quickly to R1 500. Investors would be tempted to sell it in order to lock in the profit. In contrast, if the investment dropped to R500, investors would tend to hold it, in order to avoid locking in the loss. The idea of a loss is so painful that investors tend to delay recognising it. More generally, investors with losing positions show a strong desire to get back to the break-even point.

This means that investors generally show highly risk-averse behaviour when facing a profit selling and locking in the sure gain and more risk-tolerant or risk-seeking behaviour when facing a loss continuing to hold the investment in the hope the price rises again

Albert Louw is the head of Business Development at Stanlib.

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The pitfalls of emotional investing: Part 1 - Moneyweb.co.za

Private equity and venture funds have invested record sums into the global education sector$30 billion in the past five years across K-12 and workplace learning. Since 2017, investment has accelerated with $14 billion allocated, according to research firm HolonIQ.

Despite the influx of capital, employers, schools and policymakers are only just beginning to harness the sectors advancements in the delivery, accessibility and effectiveness of education technology. As adoption of these products and services increases around the world, so too does the opportunity for investors and entrepreneurs to generate positive social and economic impact alongside financial returns.

Here are five key trends to consider as education enters a new decade:

In the 1940s and 50s, employers seeking to attract the best workers offered healthcare benefits. In the early 2000s, employers offered free snacks and installed foosball tables.

Those perks have lost their luster, and with help from the Affordable Care Act, even healthcare is becoming less of a differentiator. Today, leading corporations hope to drive employee engagement, retention and advancement through providing education.

In 2014, Starbucks and Arizona State University pioneered a new kind of partnership. By offering high-quality, affordable online courses and programs, coupled with tuition assistance, ASU and Starbucks enabled thousands to become degree holdersdebt free. In a recent interview with CNBC, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson pointed to the College Achievement Plan as a driver for sales growth, because employee engagement yields customer engagement.

To broaden this workplace education initiative, The Rise Fund partnered with ASU and other leading online universities to launch InStride, providing valuable educational credentials to the employees of forward-thinking corporations. In bringing affordable education to the workplace, companies like InStride, Guild, Degreed and EdAssist are addressing the biggest issues in higher education: career relevance and student debt.

Today, 95 percent of teenagers have access to a smartphone, and the average teen is now spending more than 7 hours per day on their screens, including over 1.5 hours on social media. But the proliferation of technology does not come without concerns. These tools can amplify feelings of loneliness and serve as a platform for cyberbullying.

Mental health problems, especially among teens, increased significantly in the last decade. Seventy percent of teenagers identify mental health as a major issue, worse than drug addiction, and gangs. Suicide is now the second-leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds, and the rate has tripled over the last 10 years. In a Harvard Medical School study of 67,000 college students across more than 100 institutions, 1 out of 5 students surveyed said that they had thought about suicide.

Teachers and administrators are hungry for effective ways to teach social and emotional learning, says former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

Who will pay for these needed services? Most are paid by schools or districts, but other funding approaches are emerging. One of our portfolio investments, EverFi, finds corporate partners to fund their bullying prevention programs in schools. Other companies, like Presence Learning, are experimenting with models that may be reimbursed by health insurance, while Aperture Education helps schools to find grant funding for their services.

Education technology reached a tipping point in the last decade. Broadband penetration in K-12 schools reached over 98 percent, while low-cost computing devices like Chromebooks have proliferated in classrooms.

This has laid the infrastructure to support new instructional tools, many built by new companies that have emerged to compete with traditional print publishers. HolonIQ estimates that global spending on digital education tools surpassed $150 billion last year, and will double by 2025.

But purchasing is not proof that something works. Even more concerning: many tools may simply be gathering (digital) dust. A recent study by the University of Pennsylvania, only 30 percent of edtech licenses are actually used.

In any future economic downturn, expect technology providers who fail to show evidence of improvementlet alone usageto get axed. Those seeking to avoid this fate would do well to invest in proving that their products work. DreamBox, (another portfolio company) invests in efficacy research led by independent third-parties including Harvard and SRI International. Lexia Learning, a subsidiary of Rosetta Stone, employs a team of PhDs who send their research out for peer review.

Recently updated federal guidelines have also raised the bar for efficacy evidence that educational services should demonstrate before public funds can be used to purchase them.

Duolingo made headlines in December when it raised $30 million at a $1.5 billion valuation, reaching the unicorn milestone just seven years after the company launched. While it offers courses in several languages, a big growth driver internationally is English language learning, where it competes with online providers Babbel, Busuu and Rosetta Stone.

As businesses have expanded globally through tech and business process outsourcing, English language proficiency has become an important path to economic opportunity. According to studies by the World Bank, in India, those fluent in English earn 34 percent more on average than those who are non-fluent, while in Nigeria, the English-language wage premium is 40 percent.

In emerging markets, English language proficiency is a core component of what many parents look for as they seek high-quality schools for their children. That demand has fueled the growth of multi-billion dollar, dual-language K-12 platforms like Cognita, GEMS and Nord Anglia in markets around the world.

Rising edtech expenditures and privacy concerns have caught the eye of regulators. A group of U.S. Senators recently requested 50 technology companiesincluding education technology providersto provide written responses to questions about student privacy safeguards. These inquiries come at a time when many believe the enforcement of federal education regulation is increasingly lax.

Edtech providers are as vulnerable as their peers in other industries. At a major cybersecurity conference last fall, an 18-year-old student detailed vulnerabilities he found in Blackboard, one of the most widely-used learning management systems in the country.

As U.S. edtech companies expand globally, they will also find themselves subject to stricter European data privacy laws, like GDPR. They may also find themselves at the mercy of sudden changes in national policies, such as the restrictions recently imposed in China on foreign investment in K-12 programs.

The Rise Fund has made investments across these themes, and as we enter the next decade, the correlation between educational attainment and economic opportunity will continue to drive the demand for tools and services that bridge these two goals. For investors and entrepreneurs who choose wisely, opportunities abound for attractive returns and impact through the power of education.

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Education Is the New Healthcare, and Other Trends Shaping Edtech Investing - EdSurge

One of the largest utility companies in the U.S. Midwest, Ameren, has announced that it will spend $7.6 billion on a five-year grid modernization plan that includes installing smart meters for its more than 1.2 million customers, adding solar energy and battery storage in rural areas, switching to storm-resilient utility poles and wires, and purchasing 700 megawatts (MW) of wind power, Utility Drive reported.

The initiative, known as the Smart Energy Plan, is the latest expansion of Amerens green-energy push. The company, which serves homes and businesses in Missouri and Illinois, announced three years ago that it would retire more than half of its coal-fired generating capacity by the end of 2022. Ameren has already made substantial investments in green energy and energy efficiency programs in Illinois, starting in 2011. The new $7.6 billion program would focus on Missouri

The utility plans to install 120,000 smart meters in Missouri in 2020 and more than 800,000 by 2023, as well as web portals that customers can use to access their energy data, Greentech Media reported. Ameren also aims to purchase 50 MW of solar in Missouri by 2025 and 100 MW by 2027. Lastly, the $7.6 billion strategy includes spending $1 billion for wind energy in 2020.

Missouri currently lags far behind its midwestern neighbors in wind capacity Illinois has more than 5 gigawatts (GW), Oklahoma has 8 GW, and Iowa has 10 GW. As Ameren prepares to close some of its coal-fired power plants, investments in wind energy could help narrow this gap in electricity generation.

Amerens annual earnings have gone up in recent years since launching its green energy initiative in 2019, the companys net income was $828 million, up from $815 million in 2018, according to Utility Drive. The utility said the Smart Energy Plan could bring more than 3,000 jobs to Missouri.

The Smart Energy Plan means investment in state-of-the-art technology, equipment, and controls to reduce outages and restore power faster when they happen, Ameren Missouri President Marty Lyons said in a statement. Weve been able to continue our system upgrades and create significant jobs while lowering rates over the last two years.

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Major Midwest Utility to Invest $7.6 Billion in Smart Grid Technology and Renewables - Yale Environment 360

Oliver Furrer | Cultura | Getty Images

The spread of the coronavirus helped to sink the Dow Jones Industrial Average more than 900 points when the market opened on Monday.

And if that decline goes past 1,000 points, it could be the biggest one-day drop since 2018.

If you're like many investors, you may be inclined to check your investment balances, including your 401(k), in reaction to the news.

Yet reacting to a sudden market fall is exactly what you shouldn't do, according to one expert.

"Volatility is inherently frightening," said Dan Ariely, professor of behavioral economics at Duke University and chief behavioral economist at personal finance app Qapital. "Being frightened means that we are paralyzed, we think about it too much."

"It influences our well-being, and it doesn't necessarily lead to good decisions," he added.

In 2008, when the markets were going crazy, Ariely found himself checking his own accounts more frequently as everything changed every half hour.

On a Friday morning, before a weekend away with his wife, he found himself consumed with checking his investments. And the compulsion put him in a bad mood.

"I wasn't going to sell," he said. "I wasn't going to buy; I was just kind of looking obsessively.

"It was about noon when I realized I was out of control," Ariely said. "I was looking too much."

Consequently, Ariely decided to enter his password wrong three times and lock himself out of his account.

"I couldn't check anymore, and the weekend was much nicer," Ariely said.

What's more, Ariely took his time before fixing his account so that he could check it again.

"If we're going to look at it going up and down, we're just going to be more miserable," Ariely said. "We're not only going to be more miserable, but act on it."

Those moves often include fleeing from stocks to bonds or cash investments with a higher expected value for those with a lower expected value.

"Historically, those are some of the biggest mistakes that people can make," he said.

Dan Ariely, behavioral economist and psychologist.

Photo: Mary R.

Checking numbers, too, often can make it more difficult to accurately interpret trends, according to Ariely.

Take weight loss, for example. If people look at their weight in precise measurements with decimals say 162.3 pounds they tend to create stories to make sense of what they are seeing. And the result is often that they become unmotivated, Ariely said.

If instead people look at their weight data in a less granular way, say how it trends over several weeks, they can more accurately see what is happening. Plus, they tend to get less anxious and take better care of their health, he said.

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