“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, November 3, 2000
• Tips for the Week: Daily Advice to Help Get You Through the Week
• Read the Latest: Risky Business
• Run the Numbers: How Do Mutual Fund Fees Affect Your Returns?

Market Summary for Friday, November 3:

Close

Net Change

Percent Change

DJIA

10817.95

-62.56

-0.57%

NASDAQ

3451.55

+22.53

+0.66%

S&P 500

1426.69

-1.63

-0.11%

30-Year Bond

5.85%

-----

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 held back 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 vs. other asset classes, how well you'll weather stock market downturns, and recommend specific investment strategies.

Friday: Considering buying a house or condo? First, you need to figure out how much house you can afford. Click here to run the numbers.

Read the Latest: Risky Business
Don't Let Fear Keep You Out of the Game

By Kara Stefan

A lot of women are turned off by investing because it seems like a risky way to lose money. But hey, it's not exactly as perilous as a teenager running a brothel inside his parent's house while they're on vacation--as in the 1980s' Tom Cruise movie, "Risky Business." In fact, it's not as risky as a lot of things.

Like raising children, for instance. When you have a child, you basically have to devote your time, money, love, attention--basically every part of yourself to raising that child if you want to be any good at it. Investing doesn't take half as much effort. And to put it in the right perspective, losing money through investing doesn't even compare to the tragedy of losing a child.

So why are women so afraid to invest or invest aggressively enough to come out ahead? Well, investment risks are indeed very real and very threatening. But there are things you can do to mediate these risks and reduce your chances of losing money.

Just like raising children--the more you know, the easier it gets. More-->

Run the Numbers: How Do Mutual Fund Fees Affect Your Returns?

Click here to find out by how much mutual fund fees reduce your rate of return.

Questions

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