Sunday, October 08, 2000

Page:D1 Section:BUSINESS Edition: STATEWIDE Type: COLUMN; Q&A Illustration: Source:MATTHEW LUBANKO

MINE THESE SITES FOR GEMS OF INSIGHT

Q. Your columns often refer readers to Web sites. What are your favorite sites? Are there any sites that you visit every day? And are there any you find reliable for specific topics?

J.M. --- Wethersfield

A. The Internet has come to resemble a library that's running out of shelf space.

There's some good stuff in the stacks, a few old standbys worth keeping.

But from time to time, the stacks need to be cleaned -- some ``bookmarked'' sites need to be purged -- to make way for the new.

The Web sites below are those I consult regularly. Some are old; some are fairly new. Some choices are as predictable and necessary as the Enyclopaedia Britannica. Some are as quirky as the Guinness Book of World Records.

Dig in.

Let each headline represent a Dewey Decimal marker, a means by which you can locate a Web site by your favorite subject.

Stocks: The finance.yahoo.com Web site resembles an aging heavyweight champion. Newcomers may land a few punches, but nobody has knocked out the champ. No other source -- that I know of -- delivers so much on a single screen. Beneath the stock quote window, look at the section marked ``research.'' Here you can get a glimpse of what analysts expect your favorite company to earn in the next quarter, or next year. You can also, at the biz.yahoo.com/research/indgrp Web site, see how your favorite company stacks up against its peers.

I also like the www.quicken.com/investments/seceval Web site, a subset of quicken.com. A neat little feature allows you to evaluate a company by its rate of growth, financial health and the performance of its management; management is graded by its ability to harness the power of shareholders' capital. Although I would be reluctant to make an investment decision based solely on what a crude machine tells me, a site such as this can provoke further questions, or reaffirm what you already know.

The sleeper in this package is the www.wisi.com Web site, run by Wright Investors' Service in Milford (it used to be in Bridgeport). After you get to the home page, click on ``research & analysis,'' then click on ``company analyses.'' You will soon have the power to look over the 10-year performance of just about any company you want to examine. When it comes to picking stocks, the future matters more than the past -- but the past still counts for something. While you're at it, visit www.10kwizard.com, lest you forget that reading a company's 10-K is still, even today, one of the first sensible steps you should take before buying a company's stock.

Mutual funds: The www.morningstar.com site wins by default; there are no other sites that really do a laudable job on mutual fund analysis.

The www.fundalarm.com/search1.htm site is also worth a look (Put in your fund's ticker symbol, then click on ``get data table''), if only to see whether the fund you own -- or the fund a financial adviser has recommended -- performs well against a benchmark. Your adviser, for example, might be recommending a large company growth fund. Why not find out how this fund has performed, during the past five years, vis-a-vis the Standard & Poor's 500 index?

The www.sec.gov Web site is also worth a look. Under a link marked ``investor assistance & complaints,'' look for the section marked ``mutual fund tips,'' then look for the ``mutual fund cost calculator'' (www.sec.gov/mfcc/mfcc-int.htm). The cost calculator shows how sales loads and expense ratios eat away at annual returns.

So many people, for example, buy ``Class B'' shares because they prefer a delayed sales charge instead of the upfront sales charges imposed by ``Class A'' shares.

Though the underlying mutual funds may be identical, the cost calculator reveals that investors would be wise to choose Class A shares over Class B shares. Class A shares almost always have lower operating expenses (tabbed as ``expense ratios'' in a prospectus) and, as a result, higher annual returns.

The www.bloomberg.com site is also worth a look, simply for a section marked ``tools.'' Click on the icon labeled ``tools,'' then look for the ``total return calculator.''

Ever wonder how your fund or stock has performed as a tax-efficient, or tax-wasteful, investment? Here's your answer.

Advice: The www.directadvice.com and www.financialengines.com provide useful, unbiased service. But these services are only useful if you provide complete and accurate data. If, for example, either site asks how much you have saved for retirement, have your latest IRA and 401(k) statements handy so you can give an up-to-date answer that's more helpful than a wild guess.

Taxes: Visit www.irs.gov or www.taxplanet.com or www.fairmark.com and forget about the rest. The IRS site is complete. The ``tax planet'' site is well written. The fairmark.com site has a few invaluable papers on the taxation of stock options and other hard-to-understand topics that have become a part of our daily lives.

Guru check: They look and sound so smart on CNBC. But how good are their recommendations? Visit www.validea.com or www.bulldogresearch.com to see how a guru's stock picks fared after broadcast or publication.

Though this kind of research has its limits (a semiconductor industry analyst, for example, is not likely to earn high rankings this fall because semiconductor stocks such as Intel Corp. have lately fallen on hard times), it is irresistible when used to look over a mutual fund manager.

Gee, Mr. Jones has a great track record as a fund manager.

But, gee, everything he touts on the air swirls down the drain.

Could Mr. Jones be pumping in the morning and selling in the afternoon?

Could be.

Estate planning: Nobody likes this subject. But no subject demands so much attention, especially for those over 60 -- or those with children.

Visit www.nolo.com for the basics. Visit www.estateplanninglinks.com for more complicated topics. Visit www.estateplanforyou.com to search for an estate planning lawyer in your area (or try www.aaepa.com). You don't have to hire a lawyer who appears on the list; just see it as a lead.

Insurance: Here's another topic that sends an audience scrambling for the exits.

But insurance, like it or not, typically ranks among the top expenses in the average household, right up there with housing, transportation, food and clothing. Sites such as www.insuremarket.com, www.quotesmith.com and www.insweb.com all spit out quotes on policies. The quote services, by demanding that you answer questions, show you how premiums rise or fall, based on where you live (auto insurance) or whether you smoke (life insurance). The quote services also show how much you can save by raising your deductibles.

The www.insure.com Web site also offers useful information on insurance, without any pressure to buy.

Readers with questions about personal finances can write to ``Matt's Money Talk,'' The Hartford Courant, 285 Broad St., Hartford , CT 06115. They can also send e-mail to lubanko@courant.com or call 860-241-3726. In letters, e-mails or phone calls, please mention your name, age and a rough guess of how much you have to invest or have invested. Details bring more life to questions and make for better answers. Confidentiality will be assured, and only your initials will be used.

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