“Conditions are never just right. People who delay action until all factors are favorable do nothing.”

- William Feather

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, March 2, 2001
• Tips for the Week: Daily Advice to Help Get You Through the Week
• Read the Latest: The Details About E-Bills and Bill Payment
• Run the Numbers: What’s the Value of Additional Savings?

Market Summary for Friday, March 2:

Close

Net Change

Percent Change

DJIA

10466.31

+16.17

+0.15%

NASDAQ

2117.63

-65.74

-3.01%

S&P 500

1234.04

7.19

-0.58%

30-Year Bond

5.36%

-----

N/A

Source: Reuters

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

Monday: To combat inflation risk, consider investing in growth-oriented securities. Just how large a portion you should invest in equities is best determined by your investment goals, time horizon, and tolerance for market risk. Learn more about investing in stocks.

Tuesday: Be smart: buy disability insurance. Although it can be expensive (between 1-3% of your income), it’s necessary protection: 1 in 8 people will suffer from a severe disability during their lifetime. Learn more about disability insurance.

Wednesday: Investments with the greatest return potential carry the greatest amount of risk. Likewise, investments with conservative returns are generally the least risky. The key is to strike a balance between your financial objectives and your ability to tolerate market risk. Learn more about the risk/return trade-off.

Thursday: Keep a diary of all your financial transactions and ideas. Use the diary to identify successful trends and breakthroughs. Capitalize on your own successes to grow your wealth.

Friday: While you can earn free plane tickets through mileage credit cards, avoid carrying a balance because the interest rates can be sky-high steep. Click here to compare mileage to low-rate credit cards.

Read the Latest: The Details About E-Bills and Bill Payment

By Gail Rickards

I just read the following projection from a just-released study conducted by the Internet Research Group: “By 2002, 25% of all U.S. households will be able to view and pay at least 8 monthly bills online.”

What does the statistic translate to? 330 million bills won’t be printed on paper, placed in envelopes, stamped, carted to the post office, sorted, shipped, and delivered to our homes.

Instead, they will appear on bill payment sites, looking exactly as they would if they had been printed on paper. Securely and quickly, a graphic digital file for each bill will arrive at the correct site according to each customer’s instructions.

Over the next 18 months, e-billing (shorthand for “electronic bill presentment”) will make online banking very attractive. E-bills will take most of the work out of your bill paying routine.

How Does Bill Payment Work Without E-Bills?
Setting up bill payment takes your time and effort. For each paper bill you receive in the mail, you enter the company or person to pay, the payment address, amount owed, and date due. You also have to check whether a bill is one-time-only or should be paid on a regular (i.e. monthly) schedule. More-->

Run the Numbers: What's the Value of Additional Savings?

Based on the size of your existing investment and the rate of return it’s earning, how much more would your investment be worth if you made additional periodic contributions to your savings? Use this tool to find out.

Questions

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