situation, you will get a lot out of Quicken. But if you are a novice, you may find the program a bit overwhelming. Quicken lets you set up detailed budgeting categories, a check register, a financial calendar, a credit card and mortgage loan tracking system, an asset-liability worksheet, and an investment portfolio system. You can create numerous charts and graphs, showing, for instance, how much your income or expenses are varying from your projections. Quicken also provides a detailed tax-planning section, designed to work with Intuit’s TurboTax program. The program is loaded with financial planning calculators to help you figure out the cost of refinancing a loan or how much you need to be saving toward retirement or your children’s college education. Quicken is designed to work with CheckFree to let you pay bills online, and the special Intellicharge credit card downloads your credit card statement and automatically categorizes your transactions for you into Quicken. There is also the Mutual Fund Finder, which allows you to screen for mutual funds meeting your investment parameters using Morningstar data. You can type in the name of your employer and Quicken’s mbt kisumu 401(k) Advisor knows which mutual funds are available to you. It then can match your taste for risk and investment goals with the funds your employer makes available. To protect your data from loss due to computer failure, you can upload your data to Quicken’s Web site. TAPPING THE ONLINE WORLD There is a vast amount of information on the Internet and commercial online services to help you manage your finances. You can get news; search for price quotes on stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and insurance policies; find the cheapest credit cards; and learn about any area of personal finance that tickles your fancy. You can join in any of thousands of discussion groups and bulletin boards covering PART ONE: Maximizing Your Investment Options the broadest or the narrowest of financial interests. You must be careful when doing so, however, because you never really know who is giving advice or what their hidden motives might be, particularly when people are recommending investments. Perhaps the easiest place to get started in the online world is by subscribing to America Online (800-827-3338). AOL has prepackaged an enormous amount of personal finance resources under its Personal Finance Channel button, so that you don’t have to find Web site addresses on your own. AOL’s Channel is divided into many subchannels, such as the Insurance Center, the Banking and Loans Center, the Mutual Funds Center, and the Brokerage and Real Estate Center. Each center has an educational component that explains the basics and more sophisticated strategies to screen for stocks and mutual funds, or purchase home or car insurance, for example. Each also displays the icons of se cheap mbt shoes veral major institutions, such as banks, brokers, and insurance companies, beckoning you to visit their Web sites: . In the Mutual Funds Center, you can screen among thousands of funds in the Morningstar database, consult the Sage for advice on funds, look at Fund Family Profiles, and track a portfolio of funds. . In the Insurance Center, you can learn about the ins and outs of auto, life, and home insurance, and buy coverage online. . In the Banking and Loans Center, you can perform online banking; look at rates on credit cards, mortgages, and other loans in the Bank Rate Monitor section; find the highest-yielding certificates of deposit ranked by maturity; and find links to major bank Web sites. . In the Investment Center, there is a plethora of information on stocks and bonds. You can look at current market news and quotes, maintain a stock p mbt shop uk ortfolio, find links to several major online discount brokers, and screen for stocks that meet specific criteria. . Other features of the Personal Finance section include the following subsections: The Markets, Business News, Investment Research, Message Boards, Stock Games, Active Trader, Money Basics, Advice & Planning, Taxes, and Personal Finance Live. Personal Finance Live features “AOL Market Talk,” “Market News Chat,” and “CBS Marketwatch Radio.” The site features investing tips, information, and articles from Money.com, Smart Money, Family Money, Fool.com, and Financial Engineers. You can set up and track your investment portfolio on this site. For those who want more, there is a seemingly endless number of Web sites devoted to personal financial topics. One way to find sites is to type in words like Personal Finance or Money into a web browser to come up with Web site addresses. Even better, narrow your search by typing in a word specifically related to what you are investigating at the moment. Here are just a few suggestions of some Web sites that will help you find out what you need to know: CHAPTER 1: Giving Yourself a Financial Checkup . Financenter. A wealth of information on how to finance major assets like homes and cars. The site allows you to compare various borrowing alternatives so you can mbt shoes clearance pick what is best for your situation. It also has an extensive section on how to get the best credit cards. Several companies allow you to apply for loans online, and some even offer special rates to Financenter users. mbt shoes center.com> . Financial Electric Library. The ultimate source of information to answer whatever question you have about personal finance. The Library draws on hundreds of magazines, books, wire services, newspapers, and broadcast UK MBT transcripts to get you what you need based on how you define the search criteria. . Homestore.com/Finance. Full of pers mbt shoes review onal finance categories with multiple links to Web sites related to each of the categories, this site is a mine of personal finance information. . Kiplinger.com. This site is full of useful personal finance tips and ideas. It is organized into three main sections: Investing, Managing, and Spending. Investing h mbt anti shoe as current and historical market information and articles on investing. Managing has articles and columns on managing money, current mortgage rates, auto loan rates, and credit card rates, and has CD and other interest rates. Spending has links to many shopping sites with reviews and comparisons of products. The site covers college financial issues, retirement, banking, checking, ATMs, all types of insurance, and tax software. . The Money Page. This site offers a source of links to personal finance information, including consumer credit, electronic money, investor’s guide, money talk, money forums, banking, ATMs, insurance, r mbt sale eal estate, retirement, social security, and travel. . OnMoney.com. This personal financial site has a wealth of information. The site’s “OnMoneyGuides” includes primers on how the stock market works, advice on trading stocks online, and tips for planning for next year’s tax bill. OnMoney.com highlights the work of its “experts,” including financial book authors Gene Walden, Janet Lowe, and Jordan Goodman, formerly of Money magazine. Users can get stock quotes and company news. The site also offers services that let you pay bills online, file taxes online, or shop for loans and insurance. . Personal Finance Magazine Web Sites. All of the major financial magazines sponsor their own Web sites, which offer much more than articles from the publications. They host chat sessions with magazine staffers and experts featured in articles and provide investment news and portfolio tracking services, financial calculators, polls, links to other Web sites, and PART ONE: Maximizing Your Investment Options much more. The magazine Web site addresses for Bloomberg Personal, Family Money, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Money, Smart Money, and Worth are listed under “Magazines” in the “Resources” section. Shopping Online Shopping is not quite what it used to be. In addition to shopping centers and malls, you now have the ability to conveniently shop online. One of the advantages, aside from the convenience of mbt walking shoes not leaving your home, is that you can price- shop between various online stores. Other issues to bear in mind include the danger that your credit card number could be stolen, although this is a diminishing problem with modern computer operating systems improving credit card encryption systems, rip-off companies that take your money and run, and shipping charges that are added to the price. There are a large number of online shopping sites to choose from. T mbt lami he most popular items for sale appear to be electronic devices, home audio, videos, computers, digital and other cameras, and books. Among many other items and services available on the Web, you can buy your electrical energy, your groceries, your home gas, and even in some cases, your auto gasoline. You can buy an automobile online; however, your local dealers will be involved. In most states it is illegal for the auto cheap shoes mbt mobile manufacturer to sell and deliver an automobile directly to the customer, without involving the dealer. On many of the sites the auto dealers will bid for your purchase, which eliminates the face-to-face negotiation on the dealer parking lot. On other sites, only the dealer in your area working with the site will set the price, which may or may not meet with your approval. Here are a few of the major online shopping sites. ONLINE SHOPPING SITES Americangreetings.com. Send e-mail animated, musical mbt discount cards to your friends and relatives. Amazon.com. This is one of the most comprehensive retail sites on the Internet. Its major product is books; however, you now also can buy music, electronics, software, toys, video games, kitchen, tools and hardware, lawn and patio, and health and beauty products. Bargaindog.com. Directs users to sales and discounts at leading online merchants. A personalized e-mail newsletter, BargainDog, notifies its members of product sales in categories ranging from software to apparel. BargainSmarts. 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