March 2 - March 9 - March 16 - March 23 - March 30
March 2, 2002: Consumer Credit
Broadcast Guests
• Marion Asnes – Senior Editor of Money magazine.
• Stephen Brown – Director of Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University.
• Ruth Hayden – Financial educator and author.
• Fred Hertz – Attorney and writer. His work can be found on the Web site of www.nolo.com.
• Erica Whittlinger - President of Whittlinger Capital Management.
Web Sites
• If you’re wondering how to get your consolidated credit report, visit www.truecredit.com. Many companies offer consolidated or "three bureau" credit reports, but truecredit is the report recommended by the non-profit financial crisis center www.myvesta.org.
• www.collegeboard.com - In this site’s “paying for college” section, learn about college savings plans, loans, and use their college costs calculators and quizzes.
• www.fincalc.com - This site is made up a number of financial calculators…from homebuying to saving for college.
• www.fpanet.org - The Financial Planning Association is the membership organization for the financial planning community. You’ll find news and information about the field of financial planning on this site.
• www.money.com - the CNN and Money magazine Web site. Here you can find articles written by Marion Asnes.
• www.napfa.org - The National Association of Fee-Based Financial Planners site provides tips on finding the right financial planner for your situation.
• www.nolo.com - Thinking about making a will? Nolo.com is a great place to start. The site is provides easy-to-understand legal advice about everything from estate planning to tenants' rights.
• www.pimco.com - PIMCO is one of the world’s leading bond managers. You can learn all about bonds on this site and read articles written by their managing director and previous Sound Money guest Bill Gross.
• www.sec.gov - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s job is to protect investors and maintain the integrity of the securities markets. You can look here for information on investing and financial planning.
• www.sharebuilder.com - A low fee site for purchasing stocks online.
Books
• How To Turn Your Money Life Around: The Money Book For Women, by Ruth Hayden
• For Richer, Not Poorer: The Money Book For Couples, by Ruth Hayden (Health Communications, Inc, 1992).
• Living Together, A Legal Guide for Unmarried Couples, by Fred Hertz (Nolo, 2001).
March 9, 2002: Scams
Broadcast Guests
• Jay Adkisson - Founder of the scam-monitoring Web site www.quatloos.com
• Linda Foley - Executive director of The Identity Theft Resource Center
• Larry Magid - Syndicated technology columnist
• Erica Whittlinger - President of Whittlinger Capital Management
Web Sites
• www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp - The FBI's Internet Fraud Complaint Center addresses the issue of fraud committed over the Internet.
• www.consumer.gov/idtheft/ - Maintained by the Federal Trade Commission, this site contains information about protecting yourself from ID theft. It also provides a place to check out laws dealing with ID theft and a way to file a scam, fraud, or ID theft complaint.
• www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/doznalrt.htm - The Federal Trade Commission's list of the 12 scams most likely to arrive via bulk e-mail.
• www.sec.gov/investor.shtml - This site from the Securities and Exchange Commission educates investors about scams.
• www.quatloos.com - Jay Adkisson's Web site provides information on certain types of financial frauds and attempts to explain how these scams really work and how they can be avoided.
• www.idtheftcenter.org - The site for the Identity Theft Resource Center provides information about how to prevent ID theft. In addition, the site talks about how to reclaim your identity if it's been stolen.
• www.equifax.com, www.experion.com, www.transunion.com - These three major credit bureaus who can provide you with your credit reports.
• www.kiplinger.com - The Internet site for Kiplinger magazine has a great section on saving for college. Chris Farrell also recommends the book Financing College, written by Kiplinger's Kristin Davis.
• www.publicdebt.treas.gov/sec/sectrdir.htm - Buy bonds, t-bills, and savings bonds from the U.S. Treasury Web site.
• www.savingforcollege.com - This site is a good place to start learning about 529 college savings plans.
• www.pcanswer.com and www.safekids.com are syndicated technology commentator Larry Magid's Web sites.
March 16, 2002: Scams
Broadcast Guests
• Andy Borowitz - humorist who writes for The New Yorker magazine and the man behind the Web site www.borowitzreport.com.
• Elizabeth Clemmer - associate director of the AARP public policy institute and head of the Association's independent living and long-term care policy research team.
• Robert Litan - vice president and director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution and author of The GAAP Gap: Corporate Disclosure in the Internet Age.
• Charles Schwab - founder and CEO of the financial services company Charles Schwab Incorporated and author of the book You're Fifty-Now What?.
• Erica Whittlinger - President of Whittlinger Capital Management.
Web Sites
• www.borowitzreport.com - Humorist Andy Borowitz shares his take on the daily news on his Web site.
• www.aarp.org - Find out more about long-term care insurance as well as other issues affecting seniors on this site. Just type long term care insurance in their search feature.
• www.aei.brookings.org - Read Robert Litan's book on corporate disclosure and accounting practices in the Internet age online at the Brookings Institution's Web site.
• www.schwab.com - The Web site of the Charles Schwab Corporation.
• www.morningstar.com - Want to find out if your mutual funds own Enron? Any other questions about your investments? Visit morningstar.com, a site that provides news, information, and calculators for investing.
• www.sba.gov - If you're thinking about starting a small business or purchasing an existing business, visit the Small Business Administration's site for tips on starting and financing a business.
• www.score.org - The Service Corps of Retired Executives is a group of retired individuals who want to share their business experiences and ideas with prospective and current business owners.
• www.savingforcollege.com - This site is a good place to start learning about 529 college savings plans.
Books
• The Trillionaire Next Door: The Greedy Investor's Guide to Day Trading, by Andy Borowitz (HarperInformation, May 2000).
• Beyond the Dot.Coms: The Economic Promise of the Internet, by Robert Litan (Brookings Institution Press, 2001).
• The GAAP Gap: Corporate Disclosure in the Internet Age, by Robert Litan and Peter Wallison (Brookings Institution Press, 2000).
• Charles Schwab's Guide to Financial Independence: Simple Solutions for Busy People, by Charles Schwab (Random House, Inc, 1998).
• You're Fifty - Now What? Investing for the Second Half of Your Life, by Charles Schwab (Crown Publishing Group, 2000).
• Making the Most of Your Money, by Jane Bryant Quinn (Simon &Schuster Trade, 1997).
March 23, 2002: Spring Cleaning Your Finances
Broadcast Guests
• Ross Levin - Certified financial planner and founder of Accredited Investors Inc.
• Thane Peterson - Artist and commentator
• Roy Smith - Professor of entrepreneurship and finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business.
• Erica Whittlinger - President of Whittlinger Capital Management
Web Sites
Here are some resources Certified Financial Planner Ross Levin recommends to help you re-evaluate your portfolio:
• www.financialengines.com - This site was founded by Economics Nobel Laureate William F. Sharpe. Financialengines.com provides investment advice and retirement information to help you plan for the future.
• www.morningstar.com - This site provides news, information, and calculators for investing. It's a great tool to help you determine the right asset allocation for you.
• www.troweprice.com - Click on "Retirement/IRAs" for articles and tools on planning for and during retirement.
Ross also recommends contacting a discount broker or making an appointment with a fee-based financial planner to help you with asset allocation and rebalancing.
• www.cboe.com - Visit the Chicago Board Options Exchange for information about LEAPS.
• www.valueline.com - This site provides comprehensive source of information and advice to help individual investors make decisions about their portfolio.
Books
• Global Banking, by Roy Smith (Oxford University Press, Dec 1995).
• Wealth Creators: The Rise of Today’s Rich and Super-Rich, by Roy Smith (St. Martin’s Press, Inc., Jan 2001).
March 30, 2002: Tax Special
Broadcast Guests
• Michael Martin - Enrolled agent and tax expert. Enrolled Agents, or EAs, are licensed by the federal government, and can represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the Internal Revenue Service.
• Erica Whittlinger - President of Whittlinger Capital Management.
Web Sites
Here are some resources Certified Financial Planner Ross Levin recommends to help you re-evaluate your portfolio:
• www.naea.org - The National Association of Enrolled Agents Web site can tell you all about enrolled agents and what they do. Lists of enrolled agents in all fifty states are also on the site.
• www.doc.gov - The Department of Commerce web site has a wealth of information on business and economic development, and international trade. Chris suggested you visit this site for more on the U.S savings rate.
• http://www.bea.gov/ - The bureau of economic analysis is part of the Department of Commerce. On this site, you can find some more information about the GDP and economic data on this site.
• www.irs.gov - Both Michael Martin and Chris Farrell recommend visiting the Internal Revenue Service’s Web site for help with your taxes. You can ask a specific question to an IRS expert or download any tax form you need.
• www.taxsites.com - A resource of tax sites on the Internet.
• www.tax.org - More information on taxes than you’ll ever need on this resource. Here you’ll find tax policy forums, resources, and articles.
• Irahelp.com – This site provides information about IRA savings plans and has a particularly good section on Roth IRAs.
• www.nber.org - Go to the National Bureau of Economic Research site to read a study about what will happen to the stock market when the baby boomers retire.
Books
Two books by Eric Tyson were mentioned on this week’s show.
First of all, if you need some help planning your financial goals, you might want to pick up Eric’s Personal Finance for Dummies book.
For tax help, you can pick up Eric’s Taxes for Dummies book, which he wrote with Enrolled Agent David Silverman.
