“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, December 1, 2000
• Tips for the Week: Daily Advice to Help Get You Through the Week
• Read the Latest: Are ATM Credit Cards Worth Having?
• Run the Numbers: Should You Buy a New or Used Car?

Market Summary for Friday, December 1, 2000:

Close

Net Change

Percent Change

DJIA

10373.54

-40.95

-0.39%

NASDAQ

2645.34

+47.41

+1.82%

S&P 500

1315.20

+0.25

+0.02%

30-Year Bond

5.64%

----

N/A

Source: Reuters

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

Monday: What are you saving for? Write down your financial goals and keep them posted where you can see them every day. The next time you're tempted to splurge, check your list of goals and remember what's most important for you to achieve. Learn more about financial goals and priorities.

Tuesday: Asset rebalancing is necessary to ensure that your current investment mix stays in line with your financial objectives. Automatic asset rebalancing programs, offered by many mutual fund and annuity companies, make it easy to maintain your asset allocation strategy. Learn more about asset rebalancing.

Wednesday: Don't spend a dollar to save thirty-five cents in taxes. The "If I borrow money, the interest is deductible" approach has led many a borrower down the wrong--and expensive--path.

Thursday: Put your emergency cash fund to work--make sure you have an interest bearing checking account. Learn more about checking accounts.

Friday: Stagger your investments and withdrawals to protect yourself at both the front and back ends of the investment cycle. Regular, gradual investing allows you to benefit from dollar cost averaging. At the other end, staggered redemptions allow you to cash out strategically, starting with investments at all-time highs while holding those experiencing price drops, giving them more time to recover.

Read the Latest: Are ATM Credit Cards Worth Having?
By Jill Terry

Books aren't the only items that shouldn't be judged by their covers. Credit cards, too, often have more to them than is visible on their shiny plastic faces.

More and more banks are issuing ATM cards with Visa or MasterCard symbols on them. As a bank customer, you're told that you may use the ATM card just like a credit card. So far, so good. But is this card a credit card? More-->

Run the Numbers: Should You Buy a New or Used Car?

Click here to consider the financing, maintenance, and depreciation costs in order to compare the average annual expenses for a used and new car.

Questions

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