In This Issue - January 2001

Now, we've got nothing against good advice -- you'll find more than a few primers on growing your money and preserving investment gains here in Working Money. But with many financial magazines, it seems as if the old maxim about teaching people how to fish has been bypassed in favor of the Friday night fish fry: just show up at the campground with a bib and an appetite and we'll feed you all the cod you can handle.

Working Money takes a different tack. Instead of telling you what stocks to buy and what stocks to sell, we'll see to it that you have the knowledge, the tools, and the confidence to make your own investment decisions. If buy-and-hold fits your comfort level, Working Money will show you ways to maximize your holdings when prices advance, and how to keep more of your money when prices decline. If huge drops like the ones we experienced last April and October make you want to run screaming from the stock markets, Working Money will help you tone down your risk to a more manageable level.

Why? Because earning great returns on your investments in the spring means next to nothing if you've lost it all by autumn. As we come to, if not the end then at least a temporary respite from, the wonderful, "mad bull" disease that has carried the stock market and legions of new investors alike to unparalleled heights, the most important thing the average investor can do is preserve capital. And the best way to preserve capital is by learning about and taking advantage of the vast array of money management strategies and financial instruments that are available to investors.

So in this, our second issue, Working Money helps you figure out what to look for in a financial planner, how saving a few bucks on your next car purchase could make for huge investment returns down the line, and how to keep mutual fund fees and expenses from eating into your returns. We'll also tell you about using certificates of deposit to establish an emergency fund and we'll review FolioFN, a great new way for investors to create their own stock funds online.

In other words, grab your rod and reel and join us at the dock. The fishing is just fine!