2010; a new year, a new start. But in some ways, we have been here before.

This is not the first time we have experienced a recession, and as tends to happen, governments spend their way out of them. New infrastructure projects, more public sector jobs, and that now oh so familiar phrase, Quantitative Easing, or QE. In other words, the government is flooding the markets with money to stimulate action.

Although deflation has been an equally used buzzword in 2009, as the lack of demand has in some instances had a downward effect on pricing, the smart discussions revolve around inflation, the natural consequence of “too much money chasing too few goods”. Inflation, that by-gone concept of the 1970s! In fact inflation is all around us, with a particularly constant pressure on currency over the years. How many remember when a chocolate bar was 10p?

Although there is a split between forecasters, significant evidence points toward a higher inflationary period and an increasingly weak Sterling/Dollar fuelled by unprecedented government debt. Current house price rises, driven by a lack of available supply are likely to be short-lived rather than upward demand (as sellers wait for prices to go back to “break even” levels) , as the resultant supply increase will outpace demand does increase through higher interest rates. The stock market is having one of its roughest periods on record. Therefore, where can investors look for not only safety, but also results?

In volatile times coupled with vulnerable and weakening currency values, tradable hard assets become investments of choice. The likes of gold, silver, farmland, wine and stamps have proven to retain value in tough times as the measurement and value of cash becomes uncertain. Regardless of the measurement of exchange, or currency, these products show value and become excellent locations to park and secure wealth whilst the world begins anew.

Throughout January and indeed 2010, we will explore inflation hedges in more depth, with the next blog giving investors a comparison of the available options. There are some cracking opportunities even in these times, so I look forward to welcoming you back for another instalment in the next few days.

Discover And Invest is an investment company that is made all the more effective by the internet being its main media source. We operate from our offices in London, but the internet is our shop window. It is how you see us in the first instance. All of our products are advertised there; you can find out more about us and make an enquiry. Within three clicks of your mouse, you can find out about any of our investments, make an enquiry and then check out one of our blogs (or move onto the BBC football pages!).

Before the internet, what did Investors do? How did they find out about all the many deals out there? How could they compare house prices if considering a buy to let in Huddersfield? How could they even find the phone number of the company they wanted to contact?

Without Google, how would any of us find anything?

But the same has to go for investments and investing. Before the internet the information would have been so much harder to gather, that I am sure many of the deals we see today would never have made it to market. When making an investment today, you can type the name of the company into a search engine, and within ten seconds know whether you should be investing or avoiding with any company, anywhere in the world.

The internet has revolutionised the way we invest. We use the internet for everything now, for all stages of any investment, without the internet it would take so much longer and I am sure so many deals would never complete.

Let’s look at buying a Buy to Let in Manchester.

I know roughly where I want to buy; I want to buy in Manchester as I have heard good things about the rise in prices and the local area. So, I go to Google, type in “investment property Manchester” and I am then confronted with thousands of results. Once I have narrowed these down, I find a couple of properties I think are ok. I then go to a house price comparison website, make sure the price I might be paying is a true worthy investment, thus narrowing my search a bit more.

Off to anther website I go to check that the rents are comparable and to dig some information on rental management companies in the area.

I have now found the property I want, I make the enquiry, my details are passed to the parties concerned and off we go. I can then handle every stage of my purchase on the internet, the forms can be emailed back and forth, the solicitor’s fees can be transferred via online banking and all of my documents can be emailed back to me three days before my postal copies arrive.

Once I own the property, the whole management is handled by email, I never need to speak to anyone via a phone or even have to meet them!

The internet has not only changed the way we invest, it has changed every market in every economy in most developed countries. It has made transactions so much quicker for every industry and this in turn has developed economies and moved business forward at a much quicker rate than previously could have been achieved, allowing markets to operate in climates never before thought possible.

Be it a good or bad thing, the internet has not only changed the way we invest, it has changed what we can invest in, where we can invest and for those of us that are too busy (or shy), we may never even speak to the company we buy from, although if its ok, we would like to speak to you if your buying with us (but you don’t have to, honest)!!