The third Real Life Retirement quarterly pulse survey by Charles Schwab shows the recent economic downturn has not spurred Americans to change behaviors regarding retirement preparation. Almost four in 10 Americans (39 percent) are not currently saving for retirement and, despite market losses, six in 10 Americans (62 percent) have not adjusted their thinking about what age they will retire – nearly unchanged from the first pulse survey in September 2008, months before the recession was officially declared.

“Americans may be feeling a lack of control over their retirement which has led to inaction, when in fact this is an ideal time to act,” said Mark Jamison, vice president at Charles Schwab. “Now is the time to reevaluate your financial circumstances. Whether that means delaying retirement or adjusting how much you save for retirement, making changes now can lead to a significant difference in the future.”

Survey respondents estimate they will need just over $1.2 million to comfortably retire, yet those currently saving for retirement have put away an average of $194,000. Despite this awareness, 41 percent of Americans feel positively about their retirement preparedness and another 22 percent feel indifferent.

For More Information

Do you know if you are on track for retirement? Are you aware of how expensive funding your retirement can actually be? To learn more, click on this recent article on our website.

Cathy Pareto, MBA, CFP®, AIF® is the Founder and President of Cathy Pareto & Associates, Inc. For over twelve years, Cathy has been helping financial consumers and professionals understand the world of investments and finance with a sound, but down to earth money management approach. For over a decade Cathy was a Senior Financial Advisor for another Miami based investment advisory firm, where she managed over $200 million in assets for high net worth clients and retirement plans. She has extensive experience in retirement issues, asset allocation, investment selection, investment management, education planning, estate planning coordination, and asset protection strategies. Additionally, she was an Adjunct Professor and Faculty Coordinator for the CFP® Program at Florida International University’s College of Business.

Buying a home may seem like a dauntingly complex proposition, perhaps because you’ve never done it before or never understood all the details of financing and closing a sale.

However, once you know what steps are involved, understand the purpose of each step, and learn how each is accomplished, buying a home will be revealed for what it is–a series of simple steps that lead toward a substantial emotional and financial commitment.

Prepare to Buy

1. Clarify your reasons to buy. Because it is such a weighty commitment, buying a home shouldn’t come with regret or second thoughts. Before you buy or even begin the process, make sure that your reasons and resolve to buy a home are clear and firm.

2. Get your financial house in order. It’s hard to have any idea about how much home you can afford if you don’t know how much of your money you want to devote toward housing. If you haven’t done so already, thinking about buying a home is a perfect reason to get your finances in order.
3. Check your credit history. Even if you aren’t going to buy a house, this is a good idea. If your credit report has mistakes or other blemishes, your credit rating will suffer. As a result, you will hurt your chances of securing financing and will probably pay higher interest rates or possibly not be able to secure financing.
4. Figure out how much home you can afford. Getting an accurate estimate of what priced home you can afford will make your search more realistic and efficient. It may even give you cause to reconsider buying altogether.
5. Buy vs. rent. Depending on your situation, renting a home instead of buying may make more sense (financially or otherwise). It’s a possibility that’s worth considering.

Buy a Home

1. Get prequalified. When preparing to buy a home, you estimate how much home you can afford. Now it’s the lender’s turn. Using financial information that you provide, prequalification is a lender’s analysis of your general position as a borrower, or in other words, an estimate of what you can afford. Getting prequalified gives you an even clearer understanding of what home you will be able to afford, and a prequalification letter from your lender helps strengthen your position with sellers in the early stages of negotiation.
2. Shop for loans. Finding a good loan is probably the most confusing part of the process (and definitely the dullest), but since it will dictate how much your monthly payment will be, it deserves your full attention. To simplify, your job is to decide what kind of loan you want, whom you want to get it from, and how long you want the term to be (most are either for 15 or 30 years).
3. Get preapproved. When you get preapproved, a lender gives a firm commitment to loan you up to a set amount without knowing the specific property. It’s particularly useful because when you make an offer on a home, waiting for financing won’t jeopardize your offer. Once you are preapproved, closing the loan is quick, depending only on a satisfactory appraisal and title report of the home. To get preapproved you apply for a certain purchase price, loan amount, and loan program, but these assumptions can change after you’re preapproved.
4. Find a home. Finding the perfect home can be challenging, especially if you are moving to a new area. Regardless of where you’re moving, the Internet offers powerful tools to research neighborhoods and find available homes.
5. Close the deal. Once you’ve found the home you want, you still must get it inspected, have it appraised, get a report on the title (to make sure the history of the house is clean), negotiate the price, and close your financing.
6. Move in. If you’ve made it this far, you’re close to the finish line, but the race isn’t over. Moving presents its own challenges, and there’s a litany of things to be mindful of, such as changing your address and more.

Tiffany Bass Bukow is the CEO & Founder of the #1 Personal Finance Website for Women and Families – www.msmoney.com. My life mission is to help people and the world thrive through creating companies that provide money, career and life skills education.

(from “Busy but Balanced”)
By Mimi Doe, Author of: “Busy but Balanced” and founder of http://www.SpiritualParenting.com

The University of Michigan recently conducted a survey. They wanted to study what effect money had on people’s lives. Three of their findings:

What do people worry about most? Money! What makes people the happiest? Money! What makes people the unhappiest? Money!

Money, and our issues around money, are full and deep and intense and often impenetrable. We all have a story to tell about our money dance.

Mary, a single mother of two, was brought up by her grandmother because her own single mother couldn’t support them. She lives with the fear of losing her daughters as a result of her unsteady income. One father of three battles his demons with money–demons passed along to him by his father. When he was thirteen-years-old his father went bankrupt and lost the farm that had been in the family for generations. As this boy grew up, he had anxiety around money issues and avoided risks of any kind.

We may not inherit money but we do inherit an approach to money from our family of origin. Let’s take responsibility for our prosperity consciousness, our money mentality, so we can blast away the wall that’s keeping abundance from us. When we are alert to our old money programming we can rewrite the script. Not only will our kids get a healthier example but, by becoming aware of money’s role in our childhoods, we can tame old images and fears. We can choose, today, to allow and accept prosperity into our lives.

Balancing Tips

• Be aware of how you speak about money to your children: “We can’t afford this” or “I’ll never have enough.” Is there guilt associated with spending? “I’ve spent a lot of money on your piano lessons, so keep practicing.”
• Give your kids responsibility for using their own money early on. It helps them maintain a balanced perspective on value. My daughter loved special frozen drinks from a local coffee shop. I began to feel the expense wasn’t worth the treat and suggested she use her own money. “It’s totally not worth $3.50″ was her wise response. We concocted our own drink at home.
• Take a look at what you might be trading for money–time with your kids, self nurturing, pursuing a dream. Is there a way you could scale back your expenses to spend time on what you value now?
• Money is a balance buster for many of us. We don’t know the best way to manage the money we earn and haven’t made the time to learn. Get a grip on family finances by setting up a system for paying bills on time (I like the Quicken software program), saving for college and retirement (automatic savings plans are pure magic), handling debt (find a professional to help you create a plan), and meeting your financial goals (you’ve got to make these goals before you can meet them). Once you are in control of your money, you won’t feel thrown off balance.
• Are you avoiding taking responsibility for money because it illicits feelings of fear, stress, scarcity? Schedule a time each month when you and your partner can review your current financial situation. Create goals and strategies. Is saving for your child’s college tuition just a dream? Even if it’s an old coffee can for collecting change, just making the dream concrete opens the way for the flow of money.
• Eliminate debt and find exhilarating freedom. Debt can be an anchor around our “financial psyche”–dragging us down in all areas of our lives. Create a debt repayment plan and move on with your life.
• Prosperity is more than just money – it’s a way of thinking. Open your mind and heart to receive all the abundance the universe is waiting to shower upon you today.

Who is Mimi Doe

Ladies Home Journal called Mimi Doe “a parenting guru” and she has appeared on Oprah. She holds a Master’s Degree in Education from Harvard.

Mimi is the author of the just released, “Busy but Balanced: Practical and Inspirational Ways to Create a Calmer, Closer Family” (St. Martins Press)

Link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312272219/qid=1012258913/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_10_2/104-7406789-8620740

Sign up for her free newsletter at: http://www.SpiritualParenting.com

Here’s a great story published by Rolling Stone (of all magazines), on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression.

In Rolling Stone Issue 1082-83, Matt Taibbi takes on “the Wall Street Bubble Mafia” — investment bank Goldman Sachs (click here to read the whole story). The piece has generated controversy, with Goldman Sachs firing back that Taibbi’s piece is “an hysterical compilation of conspiracy theories” and a spokesman adding, “We reject the assertion that we are inflators of bubbles and profiteers in busts, and we are painfully conscious of the importance in being a force for good.” Taibbi shot back: “Goldman has its alumni pushing its views from the pulpit of the U.S. Treasury, the NYSE, the World Bank, and numerous other important posts; it also has former players fronting major TV shows. They have the ear of the president if they want it.” Here, now, are excerpts from Matt Taibbi’s piece and video of Taibbi exploring the key issues.

Here’s the author, Matt Taibi, in his own words, summarizing his piece. Check out the video here.

Cathy Pareto, MBA, CFP®, AIF® is the Founder and President of Cathy Pareto & Associates, Inc. For over twelve years, Cathy has been helping financial consumers and professionals understand the world of investments and finance with a sound, but down to earth money management approach. For over a decade Cathy was a Senior Financial Advisor for another Miami based investment advisory firm, where she managed over $200 million in assets for high net worth clients and retirement plans. She has extensive experience in retirement issues, asset allocation, investment selection, investment management, education planning, estate planning coordination, and asset protection strategies. Additionally, she was an Adjunct Professor and Faculty Coordinator for the CFP® Program at Florida International University’s College of Business.

Kudos to the Google Finance team.  While Google Finance’s first lead, Katie Stanton is off galavanting somewhere within the Obama administration (go Katie!), Google Finance hasn’t missed a step.  While I may be criticized as a G Finance pump monkey, I’ve always enjoyed their simple platform.  For looking up quotes, monitoring the portfolio and simple charting, it’s always been my first stop online.  For more in-depth research, like poring over balance sheet info or looking at industry information, I still use Yahoo Finance and a slew of others (I really like what Wikinvest is doing with their data — check it out).

For a simple overview, check out my article comparing both Google Finance and Yahoo Finance.

While Yahoo has always been the 800 lb gorilla in online finance sites, Google has not seen a lot of success here.  I think a lot of this had to do with the sheer amount of information Yahoo has on its platform.  From press releases to news to blogs, Yahoo’s effort was about creating a good user experiences across numerous different content and data sources.  Google Finance, as per its search background, was always about figuring out what users were looking for in the research process and just pointing them there.  Less time on the site the better.  Outside of some basic charting and portfolio tracking, Google Finance was classic portal.

So, without much fanfare, Google Finance rolled out a slew of new functionality and a nicer interface last week.  While there is nothing groundbreaking here, I do think that the new changes represent a change of thinking on the Google Finance team.  Instead of merely pointing users out of Google and sending them on their way, this new iteration of Google Finance understands that online finance users are looking for an environment that has a unified feel to it and doesn’t require hunting down information on numerous other sites.

I just wanted to call out a couple of interesting things here in the new version of Google Finance:

Some Changes

Homepage

• Improved layout and customization elements: I’ve always liked that you could get everything that you needed on a stock in one page on Google Finance.  That overarching usability is improved upon and Google has added more to a single page and still retained its usefulness.  Users can add, subtract or move different modules on the homepage (I want to see top news first and then, portfolio-related news or vice-versa).
• Recent activities module: Both Google and Yahoo allow you to see instant stock quotes on recently viewed stocks.  Google Finance takes this a step further and allows you to retrace any of your previous activities.  This is really useful for those of us with ADD stock research tendencies.  In seriousness, stock research is frequently interspersed with other activities and more often, when we see one data point, it requires us to jump to another.  These research bread crumbs allow us to retrace our activities to recalibrate.  It’s useful.  By the way, you can also create a quick watchlist portfolio populated by recent stock quotes.  I see how this can be useful if you are in heavy research mode.
• World markets module: It’s nice to see currency movements AND how other markets performed on the homepage.
• Bond yields: Also important and useful to have here.
• Sector comparisons: It’s nice that Google allows you to do this.  It aids stock discovery, but it’s pretty bare-bones.  I’d like to see some more output here.

Stock pages

• Cleaned up quote box: Google has cleaned up its quote box (see below) and has placed alongside it how well the stock is performing against the overall market and its sector.  Google has also added some relative data into the quote box, including today’s volume and how it relates to average volume.  Also helpful.

• Expanded comparative companies module: This module gives you a quick view for sizing up a particular stock against its sector or competitors, including some customization that allows users to display which information is most useful to them.  Not sure how useful this is, though, in relation to how much real estate it gets.
• Key stats and ratios: There appears to be more meat here on the individual page as it relates to financial metrics which a link to more info at Thomson Reuters.  I’d like to see some more Google smarts put to use here and add real ratios according to industry metrics (like Wikinvest is doing).  If Google doesn’t want to, port in some of Wikinvest’s data because it’s really useful for stock-specific research.
• Technical charting: Google has introduced technical chart overlays on top of their basic chart, which I thought was one of the easiest to use and most useful in the industry.  Now, investors who use the MACD or RSI technical can do so.  Some smarts in the system here: I played around and empowered the SMA technical and wanted to add not only the 20-day but the 50 and 100-day and Google allows you to add more technicals like this and even pre-populates the check boxes accordingly.  Makes things easier to use.  I founds some of the charting a little buggy.

Anyone else have any feedback?  Let me know in the comments below.

Google Finance has been gunning for Yahoo Finance for years.  This new interface takes them part of the way.  I’m looking to Google to mix it up a bit if the company is really serious about competing in this space.

Additional Resources:

• Google Finance vs. Yahoo Finance
• Top 5 Investment Sites
• Google Finance’s post on learning about the new interface

By Kara Stefan

Who thinks the average American woman is the chief financial officer of her household? The auto industry for starters. According to J.D. Powers and Associates, women make more than half the car buying decisions in the U.S.

And the Recording Industry Association of America weighs in with this statistic: women account for more than half the music sales in the country. There’s more: women comprise 44% of motorcycle owners, 51% of convertible owners, and 48% of truck or SUV owners. Guess it’s no longer a man’s world.

What this proves is that women, traditionally the purveyors of clothes, cosmetics, and groceries, have now taken the reins when it comes to nearly all of the purchasing decisions in most households. Not only that, but 80% of women will be responsible for their own finances at some point in their lives, says Mary Farrell, managing director of Paine Webber and author of Mary Farrell’s Beyond the Basics.

The Survey Says
In May of this year, research from the Wingspan Bank Financial Index confirmed that women, on average, hold the primary responsibility for managing the majority of financial activities for their households. In fact, 83 million women are responsible for creating their household budgets, managing the checking account, and reviewing and paying bills.

Now if that doesn’t qualify you for a CFO title, I don’t know what does. So whether you’re a business owner (38% of all firms in the U.S. are women-owned), or a soccer mom whose days are filled with carpools and home-baked cookies, you have the same genetic make-up that empowers you to learn, manage, and excel at finances.

Moms Rule
It may be particularly intimidating for stay-at-home moms to serve as the financial taskmaster of the house. After all, it’s your spouse who’s bringing home the dough.

However, a study conducted by Edelman Financial Services concluded that moms are worth more than $570,000 per year in today’s job market–a decent salary for any CFO.

Says Chairman Ric Edelman, “Since a mother wears many hats and is on duty 24-hours a day, we decided that the typical mother deserves a full-time yearly salary for 17 different occupational positions”–ranging from executive chef and animal caretaker to computer systems analyst and property manager.

Just in case you still doubt your ability to manage money effectively, rest assured it’s not as hard as the myriad tasks you juggle each day. For example, check out the following “job” qualifications for being a Mom, as compiled by a fellow household CFO:

Position: MOM

• Must reconcile petty cash disbursements and be proficient in managing budgets and resources fairly unless you want to hear “He got more than me!” for the rest of your life.
• Must have strong skills in negotiating, conflict resolution, and crisis management.
• Must be willing to withstand criticism, such as “You don’t know anything.”
• Must be able to think out of the box but not lose track of the box because you most likely will need it for a school project.
• Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars, and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.
• Must be willing to be indispensable one minute and an embarrassment the next.
• Must possess a highly energetic, entrepreneurial spirit, because fund-raiser will be your middle name.
• Must have a diverse knowledge base in order to answer questions such as “What makes the wind move?” or “Why can’t they just go in and shoot Saddam Hussein?” on the fly.

Transitioning Job Experience
Now that we know women are innately qualified to handle finances, here are several tips from financial expert and author Dr. Judith Briles on how to transition those skills into money management expertise:

1. Identify any fears and concerns you have about handling and managing your finances.
2. Identify how money is spent in your household by keeping a log for a month or two.
3. Take advantage of the Internet to learn about topics such as investing and credit management.
4. Assess your current financial situation by listing all income, assets, equity, fixed/flexible expenses, and discretionary income.
5. Identify your financial goals and create a written plan for college, family, and retirement.
6. Determine the types of investments most appropriate for your current situation and goals.
7. Determine how much money you can save and invest monthly.
8. Refer to experts, including financial planners and Web sites that offer sound advice.
9. Create a realistic financial plan.
10. Actively follow your plan, but allow for mistakes you’ll inevitably make in the process and learn from them.

Tiffany Bass Bukow is the CEO & Founder of the #1 Personal Finance Website for Women and Families – www.msmoney.com. My life mission is to help people and the world thrive through creating companies that provide money, career and life skills education.

The financial services industry is a very crowded space. With so many “advisors” to choose from, how do you distinguish what type of financial advisor you are working with? How do you know who you can trust with your money? Many financial advisors are nothing more than glorified salespeople with a clever title. The investments they sell have a direct correlation with the compensation they receive. Given those dynamics, what are the odds that you will receive objective advice? Don’t be fooled. The following guide will help you make more informed decisions on how advisors are compensated.

Stockbrokers

Commission based advice is great—if you’re a broker or brokerage firm. For the investor, however, it’s not always the right solution. This type of advice is plagued with high costs and opaque disclosure—high costs that chip away at your profits. The registered representative (stockbroker) – unlike a registered investment adviser – has no fiduciary duty to place the client’s interests first. Inadequate disclosure coupled with conflicts of interest guarantees that a fair number of people are going to be victimized by bad advice.

Because broker-dealers are not necessarily acting in your best interest, the SEC requires them to add the following disclosure to your client agreement. Read this disclosure, and decide if this is the type of relationship you want to dictate
your financial security:

“Your account is a brokerage account and not an advisory account. Our interests may not always be the same as yours. Please ask us questions to make sure you understand your rights and our obligations to you, including the extent of our obligations to disclose conflicts of interest and to act in your best interest. We are paid both by you and, sometimes, by people who compensate us based on what you buy. Therefore, our profits, and our salespersons’ compensation, may vary by product and over time.”

If this disclaimer appears in agreements you are signing, you should ask questions of your advisor. Obtain complete disclosure about how he or she is compensated, and where his or her loyalties lie. Then decide if the relationship is in your best interest, running for the exits might be a good option here.

Fee-Based Advisors

“Fee based” advisors (also referred to as fee-offset) can be just as bad, if not worse. Commission based compensation includes “fee-based” compensation which is a particularly evil label referring to both fees and commissions. Fee based advisors have the ability to charge a percentage “based” on the assets they manage, but they also have the ability to sell you a commission based product (like an annuity, a load fund or life insurance). “Double dipping”, as it’s known in the industry, while not illegal is certainly immoral. The broker makes money from both the client and the commission. What a guy! Don’t be fooled. Stay away from advisors peddling investments that charge you front end or back end loads or surrender charges.

Fee-Only Advisors

Fee-only compensation (not to be confused with fee-based) is non commission driven and eliminates the exploitation of investors, where quality objective financial advice is the only product, and the advisor sits on the same side of the table with the client. The only way the advisor can make more money on your relationship, is to make more money for you. Federal and state law requires that Registered Investment Advisors are held to a Fiduciary Standard. This law requires that an advisor act solely in the best interest of the client, even if that interest is in conflict with the advisor’s financial interest. This includes finding the best investment alternatives with the lowest internal expenses, and one of the best ways of enhancing returns is to control portfolio costs. Investment Advisors must disclose any conflict, or potential conflict, to the client prior to and throughout a business engagement. Investment Advisors must adopt a Code of Ethics and fully disclose how they are compensated.

High net worth, high income households are often easy targets for bad advice. When hiring an advisor, a considerable amount of thought and research should be dedicated to the process. After all, it’s only your money. Here are some things you should ask when engaging a financial professional:

• How are you paid?
• Are your recommendations in any way influenced by compensation?
• What is your investment philosophy?
• Do you provide an Investment Policy Statement?(Don’t know what that is—find out!)
• How much authority will you exert over my accounts?
• Do you have a clean regulatory record?
• What are your credentials?
• What is your educational background?
• How much experience do you have?
• What are your continuing education requirements?

Finally, you should also request and review the advisor’s written disclosure statement, ADV part I and II.

Other Considerations

Unlike other professions like accounting or law, the financial industry does not have one standard designation or brand (think CPA and Esquire or J.D.) Instead we have a wide array to choose from. Most financial professionals would agree that the CFP® designation offers the most robust, well rounded financial education available to financial practitioners and it carries the most clout. It encompasses multiple areas of study which include taxation, retirement planning, insurance planning, estate planning, investment planning and case studies. Yet, this does not imply that every CFP® has the same investment philosophy or standard of care in dealing with clients. In fact, CFP® designation is held by advisors operating in two very distinct worlds: 1) the traditional brokerage firms/Trust companies that may charge commissions or peddle proprietary funds and 2) the more consumer friendly independent fee-only (or fee-based) side of the industry.

In summary, a consumer should demand that their advisor sign on as a fiduciary in writing. Stock brokers and Registered Representatives (RR) cannot do this. Conversely, an independent Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) is always a fiduciary, and should have no problem signing a fiduciary oath for his client. But, remember that where an RIA is also an RR, the investor must clearly understand that most likely that advisor is not operating as a fiduciary. Remember that credentials do not always translate into your success.

Bottom line do your homework before you hire!

Cathy Pareto, MBA, CFP®, AIF® is the Founder and President of Cathy Pareto & Associates, Inc. For over twelve years, Cathy has been helping financial consumers and professionals understand the world of investments and finance with a sound, but down to earth money management approach. For over a decade Cathy was a Senior Financial Advisor for another Miami based investment advisory firm, where she managed over $200 million in assets for high net worth clients and retirement plans. She has extensive experience in retirement issues, asset allocation, investment selection, investment management, education planning, estate planning coordination, and asset protection strategies. Additionally, she was an Adjunct Professor and Faculty Coordinator for the CFP® Program at Florida International University’s College of Business.

By Dr. Judith Briles

No one is born with a fear of or attitude towards money. Fears and attitudes–be they good, bad, or ugly–develop over time. No doubt, your upbringing is a major contributing factor. Past experiences–successes and failures–also play a critical role. Then there’s society–whether it comes through the media, common practices, your friends, family, or even the government.

In spite of a myriad of influences, however, let’s face it: you are the steward of your money–you are in charge of its destiny. So what are your fears? Being poor? Making mistakes? In my book, 10 Smart Money Moves for Women, I identify 10 financial fears, 5 of which I describe below. See where you fit in and read my next article which covers the other 5 fears.

The Fear of Being Poor
In 1985, one of USA Today’s headlines read, “Bag Lady Fears Drive Women to Stash Cash.” Not a lot has changed for many women since I clipped that gem for my “nudge” file. The #1 fear that women shared over the past year in my “$mart Money” workshops is becoming destitute when they are older.

Is being poor really a concern for today’s woman? You bet. Government statistics show that for every 100 women and men who reach 65, only two are financially independent.

How do the rest survive? By relying on relatives, the government, friends, or working until they die. What an unfortunate and seemingly unnecessary prospect for a modern society in the midst of a booming economy.

Women live longer than men. A fact that means that women are more likely to spend far more years just barely getting by than men if they don’t step into the money maze and learn how to navigate on their own. Forget about being rescued by a white knight. It’s nothing more than a media-driven myth.

The reality is that whether you are rich, poor, or in-between, the person that you are going to have to rely on the most to keep you from the poorhouse is you–your creativity, imagination, intuition, and smarts.

The Fear of Losing Money
At some point, everyone loses money–from a bad investment, inflation erosion, or a failure to act or make a decision.

Losing money is scary for anyone, but women are more fearful of losing money than men. Why? First, men typically earn more money than women do and therefore feel as if they have more to invest. Moreover, if men lose money in a bad investment, their reaction–that it can be replaced–differs from many women who may exaggerate the loss’ significance in their overall financial situation. Women are also less likely to take the more aggressive and riskier financial positions that men do. Risk-taking, in part, has to do with a man’s familiarity with money. Men, in contrast to women, are generally exposed to the subject of money early on and by the time they reach adulthood, the topic is no longer unfamiliar or intimidating.

Working with and investing money does not have to be a giant leap into the unknown. In fact, it’s wiser to start with small steps. Whether it’s putting money in a mutual fund (many funds allow you to start with as little as $100 if you commit to contributing a minimal amount on a monthly basis) or a fund for your children’s education, small amounts can build into fortunes.

The Fear of Looking Stupid
No one wants to appear or feel foolish. Yet, when it comes to money strategies and decisions, many women fear that the wrong move or outcome will serve to broadcast that they blew it and don’t know what they’re doing. Of course that doesn’t happen, but the fear can be inhibiting.

The good news about money mistakes is that they can be valuable learning opportunities after the crisis has passed. Once you become more confident in your decisions and accept that you will stumble once in a while, you will be able to assess your financial situation quickly and rationally and focus on finding solutions rather than dwelling on the mistakes.

The Fear of Talking About Money
Your upbringing will most likely play the largest role in shaping your money practices. It’s a broad generalization, but it’s also true: most women grew up in homes in which money discussions were avoided or restricted to parents only. Money may have been mentioned but rarely discussed in a positive and productive manner. As a result, women never received the necessary training and guidance about money and investing. And the practice that started within the family is then perpetuated by the woman herself: “If I don’t talk about money or acknowledge it, it won’t be a problem in my life.”

By talking about money and sharing your experiences and outcomes with other women and men, you will discover how much there is to learn and how much you have to contribute to the conversation.

The Fear of Making Mistakes and Failing
I wish I had $10 for every mistake I’ve made over the past 50 years. Although most women believe they’ve had their fair share in the mistake and failure departments, it doesn’t erase the stigma that mistakes and failures can bring.

The unsurprising truth is that mistakes happen. What you do about them is up to you: will they cripple and paralyze you? Or will you look on them as facts of life that provide learning and growth opportunities? Making money mistakes and experiencing failures won’t destroy you, but allowing yourself to get stuck mentally could cause more lasting damage. The key is to determine:

• What happened?
• What factors could you control, influence, or alter?
• What factors were out of your control?
• What did you learn from the experience, both bad and good?

For most of us, financial fears are both powerful and deep-seated. By recognizing your own fears and how they operate on you, you can begin to cut them down to size and use their force for something much more worthwhile–taking charge of your financial well-being.

Click here to read part two of Face Your Financial Fears!

Judith Briles, Ph.D. is a speaker, columnist, and award-winning author of 20 books including 10 Smart Money Moves for Women and Smart Money Moves for Kids. She can be reached at 303-627-9179 and e-mailed at DrJBriles@aol.com. Her Web site is www.briles.com.

Tiffany Bass Bukow is the CEO & Founder of the #1 Personal Finance Website for Women and Families – www.msmoney.com. My life mission is to help people and the world thrive through creating companies that provide money, career and life skills education.

By Kara Stefan

Most of the time, the greater the risk you assume with your investments, the greater your reward. But sometimes excess risk can lead to nothing more than just that–excess risk.

That’s why it pays to keep track of your portfolio and find out exactly which securities deliver good returns, and which are a drain on your portfolio.

By the same token, it’s often hard to compare apples to oranges. For example, whose 401(k) plan performs best, yours or your spouse’s? With various percentage holdings in different stock and fund offerings, you can never really be sure.

You could compare your rate of return; but then again there’s what’s called your risk-adjusted return. It’s equally important to know if the amount of risk your portfolio assumes yields proportionately higher returns.

Tracking on the Web
Morningstar.com offers two tools to its members who register as members for free on its Web site:

• Portfolio Manager allows investors to track, analyze, and continuously update the progress of multiple portfolios. You may use it to follow your 401(k), any investment account, or as a watchlist for investments you are considering.
• X-Ray Overview allows investors to analyze investments across 8 different screens, including Asset Allocation, Style Box Diversification, Stock Sector, Stock Type, Stock Statistics, Fees & Expenses, World Region, and Top 10 Holdings.
• Premium Service enhances the Morningstar service (for a $9.95 monthly fee) with the ability to search Morningstar’s database of 15,000 stocks and funds, and access their ‘Quicktake Reports.’

The Morningstar system helps investors stay on top of how current market conditions affect their portfolios. You can monitor changes in the value of your stocks and funds since your purchase date and study year-to-date returns at both the portfolio and individual stock level.

RiskGrades offers another tool on the Internet for portfolio tracking. It can also be found at other financial Web sites that license the technology, such as Reuters, Sharepeople, and Worth. The RiskGrades tool is free to online users, and its service helps investors put risk into perspective when evaluating their portfolios.

“In general, we’ve found that people are under invested–in other words, they don’t invest aggressively enough,” says Ethan Berman, CEO of RiskMetrics, the spin-off company from J.P. Morgan that developed the RiskGrades system.

Once you register at the RiskGrades site, you can input the market symbols and number of shares you own for each holding or mutual fund in your portfolio, and the tool does the rest. It will give each security and your portfolio a numerical risk grade between zero and 1,000–with zero indicating a no-risk portfolio.

In addition, RiskGrades now offers a measure of risk-adjusted returns for assets within a portfolio. This allows you to evaluate returns in relation to the degree of risk being taken.

“Many investors fail to understand that return is only half the equation,” Berman explains. “It’s not until return is weighed against risk that you achieve an accurate and true assessment of how your investments are performing.”

The Software Solution
If you’d prefer more in-depth portfolio tracking that can be combined with your tax and/or accounting functions, try one of the many off-the-shelf portfolio tracking software packages. Some of the most popular offerings include:

• Easy ROR (Rate of Return)-(Hamilton Software, $149): This package provides exact calculations of internal and time-weighted returns on your investment. It requires only minimal data input, including deposit, withdrawal, and optional tax or fee information.
• Investor’s Accountant-(Hamilton Software, $395): This tool tracks an unlimited number of portfolios through the one-time entry of data for prices and dividends. The software measures portfolio performance, evaluates securities and market trends, can aid you in year-round tax planning, and produces detailed accounting records and financial reports.
• Reeally!-(Mantic Software Corp., $495): At the top of the line is Reeally!, a performance measurement software that tracks all of your investments and trading activities, measures your true portfolio performance (including long and short positions and margin reserves), compares the performance of filtered slices of your portfolio over time, and handles multiple currencies for international investors.

Coming off a long bull run in the market, investors are now witnessing more market volatility than ever. That’s why it’s so important to carefully assess what you currently own in order to make informed investment decisions for the future.

Today’s technology offers many options for evaluating not only what you own today, but projecting how your portfolio will react in various market scenarios in the future. They say you can’t predict what the market is going to do, but you can prepare yourself by imagining what could happen. Accurate and proficient portfolio tracking tools allow you to do just that.

Tiffany Bass Bukow is the CEO & Founder of the #1 Personal Finance Website for Women and Families – www.msmoney.com. My life mission is to help people and the world thrive through creating companies that provide money, career and life skills education.