“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 29, 2000
• Tips for the Week: Daily Advice to Help Get You Through the Week
• Read the Latest: No Pain, No Gain
• Run the Numbers: Should You Consolidate Your Credit Cards?

Market Summary for Friday, December 29:

Close

Net Change

Percent Change

DJIA

10786.85

-81.91

-0.75%

NASDAQ

2470.52

-87.24

-3.41%

S&P 500

1320.28

-13.94

-1.05%

30-Year Bond

5.46%

----

N/A

Source: Reuters

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

Monday: Equities tend to be good long-term investments. While past performance doesn't guarantee future results, history shows that over the past 45 years, the stock market has yielded positive results in every period that investors held onto their investments for 5 years or longer. Learn more about stocks.

Tuesday: Create a fun visual for your children that helps them see their money grow. How about a money growth chart just like a child's height chart? Every time they save and earn money, they can update their chart with colored pens or pictures.

Wednesday: Don't push the sell button too fast! As long as you don't sell, your investment will have the chance to recover from price declines and earn you a greater profit. Learn more about investment risks and how to protect yourself.

Thursday: Whether you're 20 or 80, single or married, climbing the corporate ladder or raising a family full-time, you can take charge of your financial life. You just need to learn the basics and which steps to take to achieve financial health. Learn how to get financially fit.

Friday: Dollar cost averaging--where you invest a fixed amount of money at regular intervals, usually monthly--is a great way to start investing if you don't have lots to invest or you want to follow a consistent and structured investment plan. Learn more about dollar cost averaging.

Read the Latest: No Pain, No Gain
Incorporating and Managing Risk in Your Investment Portfolio

By Kara Stefan

"Most women have been taught--implicitly or explicitly--to put any savings at all in the bank. This often leads us to be overly cautious when it comes to taking risks," writes Marlene Jupiter, in her book Savvy Investing for Women: Strategies from a Self-Made Wall Street Millionaire.

Just like most of life's important decisions, the more willing you are to put yourself out there in terms of risk, the more you stand to gain. And lose. But with life, career, and finances, the key to hedging risk and gaining the best odds is education.

"An educated investor--much like a seasoned gambler who knows the rules of the game--is thus equipped to decide how she should stack the chips on each wager," advises Jupiter. She emphasizes the importance of thoroughly understanding both the downside and upside to each investment before making any decision. More-->

Run the Numbers: Should You Consolidate Your Credit Cards?

Click here to calculate how much sooner you might be able to pay off your debt by consolidating your credit cards.

Questions

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