Friday, June 19, 1998

When Forced To Be Productive
By George Runkle (TMF Runkle)

While the World Wide Web is certainly useful for wasting time, I have to admit, there are some good places for honest-to-goodness research. When there is no other choice but to become productive, the Web can be a savior. What's good about it is you often can get the exact information you need without driving to the library, or buying books. The time saved can be wasted elsewhere with video games, watching talk shows on TV, or mindlessly Web surfing. So, here are some of my favorite Web sites for news, investments, and personal finance which can help when productivity is forced upon you.

News: For all-around news, check out www.msnbc.com. The business news is fairly good, and there is decent coverage of other areas too. You'll probably get more in-depth news faster than watching the 11 O'clock News on TV. You don't have to watch annoying commercials for hemorrhoid treatments either. Also, www.cnn.com is good, and www.bloomberg.com is worth checking out.

Investment Research: Without a doubt, the Nasdaq's home page wins. It's (you guessed it) www.nasdaq.com. Not only does it give you quotes, you can get complete stock reports for all Nasdaq listed companies. These reports give an unbelievable amount of information, from analysts' estimates, to finances, to insider and institutional holdings. Of course the NY Stock Exchange has a Web site, www.nyse.com, but it doesn't hold a candle to the Nasdaq's. Wake up, guys!

Going further, I would be remiss if I didn't mention another favorite of mine, that is, of course, free. Well, our tax dollars support it. It's the Securities and Exchange Commission's Edgar Database. It's almost as perfect as Coca-Cola, and what the phone company used to be. You can find it at www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm. On that site you can get annual reports (form 10K) and quarterly reports (form 10Q). I wouldn't buy any stock without checking it out there.

Are you interested in DRiP investing (Dividend Reinvestment Plans)? You should be. With a DRiP, you can buy stock directly from the company, and not pay commissions. Many allow you to make monthly investments for as little as $10. Many very good plans are handled by First Chicago Trust Company, and they have a site listing the companies they carry. Here it is: www.fctc.com/direct.html. Speaking about perfect, one of the companies that uses them as a transfer agent is Coca-Cola.

Other Government Stuff: In these days of bashing the Government, it's nice to know they do provide us with some very good services. Have trouble with somebody ripping you off? Here's a site that lists state and local consumer agencies: www.hud.gov/fha/res/stconsag.html. Do you want to put your short term cash in Treasuries or Savings Bonds? Well, check out www.publicdebt.treas.gov/bpd/bpdhome.htm. As the year goes on, you've discovered that with the help of the information in the SEC's Edgar database, you've made a lot of money. How do you find out what taxes you owe? Check out the IRS Web site at www.irs.gov. It carries publications on everything from capital gains taxes to IRAs.

Debt Information: Are you drowning in debt? Do you need help with getting terms you can live with from your creditors? Here are a couple of non-profit organizations: www.dca.org/ and www.cccsmoneymatters.org. If you want to know about bankruptcy and its consequences, here are two sites to check out: www.nolo.com and www.agin.com/lawfind. I can't end this section without listing the three main credit reporting agencies: www.experian.com, www.equifax.com, and www.transunion.com.

There is no reason to feel disillusioned about the Web. While all the above sites can provide real useful information, there are many more sites that allow you to waste your time completely. For information on that, check out my Fribble: www.fool.com/Fribble/1998/Fribble980528.htm. By the way, for one more totally useless site, check out this web cam: www.hct.ac.ae/hctcamera/ispy.jpg. It's the ocean front in Abu Dhabi, in case you ever want to go there. Hopefully these sites I've given you will help you free up enough time to waste it in fun and pointless activities.

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