“When your dream appears as an opportunity, you must have ready cash to take it home with you.”

- Anonymous

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!

In This Week's Issue:

• Market Summary for Friday, July 14, 2000
• Tips for the Week: Daily Advice to Help Get You Through the Week
• Read the Latest: Give Up Your Biggest Vice!
• Run the Numbers: What’s Your Cash Flow?

Market Summary for Friday, July 14:

Close

Net Change

Percent Change

DJIA

10804.36

+15.65

+0.15%

NASDAQ

4247.07

+72.21

+1.73%

S&P 500

1509.41

+13.57

+0.91%

30-Year Bond

5.88%

+0.06

N/A

Source: Reuters

Tips for the Week: Daily Advice to Help Get You Through the Week

Monday: Max out your 401(k) plan, if possible. 401(k)s are a great way to grow your retirement savings tax-deferred, and the benefits are even greater if your employer matches all or part of your contribution. Learn more about 401(k) plans.

Tuesday: Allocate the money you invest among various asset classes and holdings. A well-diversified portfolio helps offset temporary losses because the currently in-favor performers will likely balance (or hopefully exceed) the out of favor investments. Learn more about asset allocation.

Wednesday: Don’t be handicapped by past financial mistakes. Decide to live differently starting today--figure out what’s most important to you, take charge of your financial life, and begin your new path to financial health and security. Learn more about how to get financially fit.

Thursday: A professional financial advisor can help you determine what portion of your portfolio should be in equities versus other asset classes and how well you’ll weather stock market downturns in addition to recommending specific investment strategies. Learn more about investment advisors.

Friday: Considering buying a house or condo? Your first step is to figure out how much house you can afford. Click here to run the numbers.

Read the Latest: Give Up Your Biggest Vice

By Kara Stefan

Now, more than ever, a woman needs to take control of her financial future. That’s because we’re making “real money” now, living longer, and living more independent lives as a result of divorce rates and the growing numbers of single moms.

Every woman, no matter how young or how poor you think you are, can muster up the cash to begin an investment plan. In fact, the younger you are, the greater your opportunity to create significant wealth over a long time span. And if you consider yourself poor--you’ll get out of that rut a lot faster if you start an investment plan today.

Don’t wait for a better job or some wealthy prince to waltz in and rescue you. It didn’t work for Ivana Trump, and it’s not likely to work for you. More-->

Run the Numbers: What's Your Cash Flow?

Just as with net worth, most people have no clue about how much and on what they spend each month. Luckily, determining your cash flow and getting a solid grasp on how you spend your money are easy. To determine your cash flow, follow these steps...

Questions

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