Rough Guide Money Online [Paperback]

PUT YOUR MONEY TO WORK ON THE INTERNET

The Rough Guide to Money Online will make you an online finance whiz in the shortest possible time. In plain English, with no hint of techie jargon, it explains how to: Set up your online banking and brokerage accounts Complete your first digital transactions and trades Get the facts on the day trading phenomenon Find the best mortgage, car loan and credit card interest rates File tax returns and pay bills, easily and on-time

And because this is your money, author John Scalzi emphasizes how you you can feel secure and comfortable in trusting your finances to the online world.

All this, plus hundreds of reviews of online banking and investment sites and a directory of the best financial news and commentary on the Web.

Money, the Net, and You. Read This First. When people think of the Internet and the Web, they think of money. And who can blame them? In the short time that the Internet and the Web have existed as an economic force, they’ve received more financial coverage, influenced more business decisions, precipitated more frenzied investing, and made more instant millionaires than any other single phenomenon in world history. Twenty years ago, no one in their right mind would have dreamed that something born out of the mere connections between computers could possibly have as much financial influence as, say, the oil industry. Or banks. Or automobiles. But it has—for sure. However, underneath the Internet IPOs and the browser wars, behind the multibillion-dollar mergers and the 23-year-old computer programmers worth more than their parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents put together, an even more remarkable financial revolution is taking place on the Net. It’s more remarkable because, long after the dotcom financial bubble bursts and the sages get tired of comparing Net investors to tulip speculators of the seventeenth century, this “other” revolution will have changed the way the world does its business. This financial revolution is the revolution of online banking, stock trading, and financial planning. Why is it so significant? Well, for the first time in the history of the world, the mechanics of world business are becoming truly democratized. You have more control over your money than any of your ancestors ever did. Ever. Think about it. Five years ago, if you wanted to invest $10,000, you pretty much had to place it into the hands of strangers: stockbrokers who were nominally beholden to you but who had their own agenda (or at the very least, a desire to take long lunches at almost exactly the time you wanted to get hold of them). Every stock move you made had to go through them and they took a nice big bite of your money every time they called in an order. But what could you do? You didn’t have access to real-time quotes or to the system that allowed orders to be placed. Just because it was your money didn’t mean you got respect. Flash forward. Today, you place that $10,000 in an Internet brokerage account from the Web or from AOL. You watch the stock prices of the companies in your portfolio jitter like nervous birds, thanks to a ticker in real-time. You double-click on one of those stocks and look at a historical chart, showing its movement over the last year. You read the latest Associated Press story on the company, so fresh off the wire that a copy editor missed a typo. You examine the most recent earnings estimates from the analysts. And, armed to your eyebrows with all this financial intelligence, you make the trade. For a fraction of the cost a stockbroker would ding you for. And you’re just one of millions, using the Net for all manner of financial transactions. Your paycheck is almost certainly electronically deposited into your checking account—and you can go online at 3am to transfer funds into savings, or pay your bills over your computer. If on April 15 (at 11:37pm), you discover you are missing that 1099-MISC form you so desperately need to finish your taxes you can download the form from the IRS Web site—that is, if your tax preparation software doesn’t have the form, which it almost certainly does. And as for rushing to the post office before midnight—why? Your tax software just filed the forms online. In the space of half a decade, we’ve gone from having to conform our lives to the financial world, to having the financial world conform to our lives—an astounding bit of empowerment that’s happened so quietly that many of us aren’t even aware that it’s happened, much less are using it to our advantage. Not every revolution comes bursting through the door. Still, over there in the corner more than six million North Americans are quietly doing their banking online—and an estimated thirty million will join them in the next five years. It’s time for everyone to reap the rewards. Which is where this handy little book comes in. Enclosed in its smallish dimensions is a guide through these revolutionary times. It’s for all you folks who want to stop waiting in line at the bank, or trying to get your broker on the phone, but are worried that if you try it on your own, you might screw something up. Well, you won’t (really—I’m not just saying that to get you to buy this book). Taking charge of your finances online is easy, and getting easier every day. This book can’t (and won’t even pretend to) make you a financial expert. That’s your job: You’ll have to take the time to become the master of your own financial situation. What it will do is get you started on the way. It will show you how to do it all: Not just how to bank online or trade online, but also how to find and finance houses, cars and credit cards online. It’ll tell you where you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about finances without having to budge from in front of your computer. It’ll even help with the taxes. Potholes and obstacles? They’re there, to be sure. But they’re easy to get past, once pointed out. This book will do a lot of waving and pointing and telling you when to swerve. The bottom line: It’s your money and your chance to be at the front of one of the great financial revolutions of all time. It’s easier than you think.

Using This Book—and US/Canada The chapters following cover all the basics of making your money work online—banking, mortgages and loans, credit cards, investments, and taxes. They should be used in conjunction with the Web site reviews in the second half of this book, where you’ll find US (Part Two) and Canadian (Part Three) business URLs (addresses) to turn knowledge into action. The information following is written primarily for US users. However, in terms of practicalities, much of it applies equally to Canada—setting up banking and brokerage accounts, applying for loans, dealing with credit cards, and using other commercial services online are very similar processes both sides of the border.