European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 21, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                June 2007 stars and stripes Page 15 your Money online social networks focus on finances by Jane Kim the Wall Street journal it used to be that people shied away from sharing intimate details about their financial amid the rising popularity of so Cia networking services such As Facebook and a crop of new personal i Nance web Sites is letting users Post their private Persona finance details and share advice with each other on tracking their spending and making better investment de some of the such As and include Many of the same features offered by popular software pro Grams such As Intuit quicken and Microsoft such As the ability to track spending in different categories and from different sources in one but they also allow users to get feedback from Peers that is tailored to their specific some allow users to rate the Quality of other members tips or pro vide feedback on various products or ser vices Treyve Josh a 26yearold environmental Engineer from decided to try out Mesabe after Reading about it in Var ious he wanted to pay off his credit card debt and the two car Loans that he and his wife and he expected the site would help identify areas where he and his wife were but he also got help from other users who shared their own tips on reducing debt and cutting one of our goals was to pay off All our and were almost said some Consumers May have Security con Cerns about sending their personal Finan Cial information to a web in the Sites say their systems Are protected against identity thieves and Are just As Safe As banking for its stresses that it Doest store users Login in formation on its servers and screens out any personal information from the data to protect users the Type of information you need to enter into these Sites and How Public that information becomes depends on the site and what you want to get out of at for users provide their passwords for their Bank and cred i card which the site uses to automatically pull users data into its sys at users download a soft Ware program onto their computer and then enter their the program then pulls their data from the Banks to us ers and then uploads it to Wes abes at both users data is kept although members can voluntarily share More information about themselves with other the Sites will also aggregate user information to reveal spending Pat terns in the As the aver age amount users spend on Gas but will not disclose individual at other such As the just launched co Vestor which allow investors to share their portfolio Mem Bers manually input transaction data for their brokerage accounts or provide their account passwords to have the firm automatically track their members can choose to remain and the Actu Al Dollar values of trades arid specific hold Ings of each member always remains conf with Only percentages still other with names such As and help col lege friends and family Mem Bers keep running tallies of shared expense at the same some smaller broker age such As Trade King and Zecco holdings Are letting clients share information about their hold recent trades and investment Strate Gies with other users if they users of the Sites can reveal As much or As Little about themselves As they want net Worthly blog network hts sweets for 20070614 Wirtl journal tits of tote fun s an made Tow woo it net Worthly tweet the up vote mat Beta can Row in Aive net just to Roupli Uuk pow wed by web Sites that allow users to share their personal financial stories can help motivate people to build their network Thlu lets users create profiles based on their actual net at a site run by fou Rio users information is kept private until they choose to create a Public at which time Only their Gen eral net Worth statistics Are made Public and any personal such As email remain an estimated 2 million households Are expected to use these Sites by the end of next said Jim on line banking who published a re port on the Sites last that number is expected to jump to about 16 million House holds in 10 the Sites could remain Niche if they Arent Able to attract enough he not everybody wants to see their ban account he the target audience for these Sites is younger the idea of looking at a Ledger and seeing a Check that really says Harper a 29yearold software Engi Neer in who uses Mesabe to keep track of his but being Able to in trying to spend less Money at Ama and seeing How Many people Are also try ing to save Money at Ama Zon is a better Way to quantify the numbers to the ability to share and compare ones finances with others also can help motivate people to build their net Worthly lets users create profiles based on their actual net they can then com pare themselves with oth ers by income or occur link to other and track their Progress on a about on third of the Sites registered users choose to make their net Worth figures although the data Are self reported and the users identity is on members can create discus Sion groups with other users about specific financial the site lets members Cre ate a consolidated View of their financial accounts and use Tex messaging technology to get Quick balance updates from their to bile starting this users will be Able to provide feedback on financial such As student credit cards or savings this totally makes sense for the 20something says Brian a financial adviser in and author of getting started the financial guide for a younger theres a lot of Utility Here because their situations Arent that this generation is very comfortable with online profiles arid is very open with sharing information tuesdays Market summary indexes 52 High Low name last net chg Ltd chg chg 52wk chg nose Dow Jones industrials Dow Jones transportation Dow Jones utilities nose composite amex Index Nash a composite Russell 2000 do Wilshire 5000 amex ii Nash a name last chg Geneles Pfizer forum pm cup by myst bes buy timeworn Sterlien and coming 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Egypt Hong Kong Hungary Israel Japan Kuwait Norway Philippines Poland saudi Arabia Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey military Exchange rates Are those available to customers at military Bank ing facilities inthe country of issuance for South the Netherlands and the United for no local currency Exchange rates purchasing British pounds in Germa Check with your local military Bank ing commercial rates Are inter Bank rates provided for reference when buying All figures Are foreign currencies to one except for the British which is represented in and the which is precious metals to if Mere Gold Silver interest rates prime discount Federal funds Market 30year sources the associated Bank of America and sensibility Money tip of the Day saving on health care Market watch new York More than 44 million people living in the Are according to the census bureaus latest Esti to avoid snowballing people without health coverage often choose to forgo doctors vis its but this May end up costing them More Down the warns health care consult ant Michelle author of the Book healthcare for preventive care is essential to diagnosing and treating illnesses before they require costly medical whether you Are uninsured or simply try ing to Katz suggests these three tips to Cut your medi Cal expenses pay Cash to reduce people often dont realize that medical costs Are negotiable particularly if youre willing to pay a Cash transaction can save you up to 50 this is an excellent option for those with no health cover but its also Worth paying Cash if you do have Many physicians will Cut you a Deal anyway because it saves them the headache of wrangling with the insurance bargain not All medi Cal charges Are created the Cost of procedures can fluctuate wildly from Hospital to hos its like shopping for a says before you go in for elective she suggests calling the Billing depart ments of several local hospitals to get Price find out exactly what services Are included in the Cost to avoid hidden charge dont pay full Price for your before your doctor writes you a inquire if there Are samples to be if they Arent ask your care provider to write a 90day prescription rather than a this will save you from having to schedule another appointment for a shopping at the pharmacies of wholesale such As Costco or Sams can also deliver significant but regardless of where you fill your ask for the generic