Money Essentials

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WEB RESOURCES: MONEY

Personal Finance
The Motley Fool: This is an "on-line financial forum for the personal investor." The site contains personal finance advice without all the complex industry lingo.
Credit Cards
Directory of Electronic Applications: A listing of a number of on-line applications for everything from credit cards and loans to colleges.
Bank Rate Monitor has the most current list of best credit card rates nationally and in major cities. Hit the Credit Card button on the home page. One nice feature: you can find a list of best credit cards for balance-payer-offers or balance-carriers.
Consumer Loans
Money Magazine's Personal Finance Center shows the best rates for auto, mortgate, and home equity loans in the top 100 metropolitan areas of the U.S.
The Financenter is where to go to compare all sorts of consumer loans. Features of the site will help calculate best rates, whether you should consolidate or refinance, and whether to rent or buy a home.
College Financial Aid
Don't Miss Out: This site is an on-line book with extremely thorough and valuable information on financial aid. It's definately the first stop of a college financial aid search.
FinAid: A comprehensive list of resources for tuition funds.
FastWeb provides a free search service that returns scholarships and grants according to the profile you give.
FAFSA On-line: At this site you can download a free program to help you fill out your federal financial aid forms and submit them electronically.
College Board On-line provides some excellent information on different sources of financial aid. All this from the makers of the SAT's!
Student Market: Here's an interesting link to an on-line service that lets college students buy and sell used textbooks. There doesn't seem to be many books for sale at the moment, but the site has potential.
Mortgage Information
Mortgage Market Information Services Inc. offers map of the United States: click on the state you're buying in to find a wide variety of mortgages from local and national lenders.
Mutual Funds
Kiplinger Online is a great stop if you need the one-year, three-year and five-year top performing funds -- which we all do, right? Contact information for funds is also provided.
There's a place within the confines of the Toronto Dominion Bank web site that is a wonderful planning tool that helps you calculate investment return on your retirement plan; another tool lets you work backward from the results you want to the retirement plan that's right for you.
Long Distance Rates
Long-Distance Rates Comparison
Certificates of Deposit
Bank Rate Monitor (yes, the same site listed above), gives rates on six-month to five-year Cds, available nationwide.
Insurance
QuickQuote: Free insurance quotes.
Health Care Costs
National Committee for Quality Assurance: A neutral agency that rates HMO performance so you can see if you're getting enough bang for your healthcare buck.
Tax Information
Official IRS Website: Download and file your tax forms on-line at the IRS website. It also has advice on tax laws and a counter showing the number of days left before April 15th.
Exchange Rates
Exchange Rate Calculator: This site is a very simple but useful currency exchange rate calculator. You choose two currencies from the list and immediately get the current exchange rate.

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