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Welcome to Money-Smarts, MsMoney.com's weekly newsletter of financial facts, features, and tools. Money-Smarts is designed to provide quick and useful information to help secure your financial future. Enjoy, and tell a friend about MsMoney.com! |
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In This Week's Issue: |
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Market Summary for Friday, June 23: |
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Close |
Net Change |
Percent Change |
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DJIA |
10404.75 |
+28.63 |
+0.28% |
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NASDAQ |
1441.54 |
-10.64 |
-0.73% |
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S&P 500 |
3845.61 |
-91.23 |
-2.32i% |
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30-Year Bond |
6.03% |
+0.07 |
N/A |
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Source: Reuters |
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Tips for the Week: Daily Advice to Help Get You Through the Week |
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Monday: Thanks to the power of compounding, the younger you start investing, the more your money will earn--by a substantial amount. Learn more about the power of compounding. Tuesday: Thinking about buying a car, house, cell phone, or computer? Ask your children to research the products, as well as financing options, on the Internet. You’ll get valuable information, and they’ll get valuable lessons in comparison-shopping and how to pay for big-ticket items. Learn more about buying a car or home. Wednesday: Reassess your asset allocation whenever your personal circumstances change: for instance, if you have children, remarry, retire, or become divorced or widowed. Certain situations may demand a more aggressive portfolio while others call for switching to a more conservative investment strategy. Learn more about asset rebalancing. Thursday: It’s never too early to start saving for retirement. Find out which IRA is right for you. Friday: Financial goals flow naturally from well thought-out and heartfelt values. Once you clarify your values, figuring out your financial goals--and how to reach them--becomes easier. Learn more about financial health and how to achieve it. |
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Read the Latest: Is Internet Banking
Private? (Part Two) |
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This is the second part of a two-part article on privacy in online banking. The controversy surrounding Web privacy centers on the use of personal information that is collected by all sites, including I-banking, as you click from site to site and page to page. As this controversy grows, two principal issues have emerged. The first is disclosing what information is being collected and how the information is being used. The second is the granting of permission to use or share the information. For online banking, there are laws and regulations already in place that cover some disclosure and permission issues--The Fair Credit Reporting Act and Regulation B for credit reporting, and Regulation E for electronic transactions. As helpful as these are, they don't specifically address I-banking privacy concerns. New Privacy Legislation for Banks The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which goes into effect November 2000, modernizes much of the financial system. According to its provisions, banks are directed to formulate privacy rules and disclose their policies regarding the use of personal data. However, the Act doesn’t specifically discuss online privacy or outline how banks can reach compliance, and therefore leaves it to consumers to determine whether policies are actually followed. New York and California State legislatures have alternative bills of their own that go further with respect to requirements of particular importance to online banking. One bill would require written notification of privacy policies to customers. The other would give customers the choice to “opt-in”--to give the bank permission to mine the data that it collects--rather than “opt-out” after the mining has already taken place. More--> |
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Run the Numbers: Should You Consolidate Your Debt? |
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What are the benefits of increasing the amount you pay each month on your mortgage? Early repayment translates to savings both in terms of time and finance charges. Click here to find out. |
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Questions |
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Are there topics you’d like to read more about in Money-Smarts? Questions we can answer? Send an e-mail to emailus@msmoney.com and give us your feedback! Thanks! |