Your Business on the Web

The Tip of the Day is presented Monday thru Friday each week by Bob Osgoodby, Publisher of the "Your Business Newsletter" and Webmaster of the "Your Business on the Web" web site. Feel free to save these Tips for future reference. And, if you get a chance, visit our Home Page below.

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          Today is Wednesday, May 17th, the 138th day of 2000.
               There are 228 days left in the year.

This newsletter is sent only to subscribers who have requested
it. Our subscriber list is NOT made available to third parties.
We value every subscriber and respect your privacy.
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                     In this Issue

**  Tip of the Day - Active Windows Border

**  Today's Highlight in History

**  Food for Thought by Dr. Kevin Nunley - Just Looking

**  Lexis Battles An Internet Upstart Over Distributing Case Law
    Online

**  Quotable Quotes

**  Trivia for Today

**  Publications of Interest

**  The Dollar Stretcher - "Divorce Planning" by Gary Foreman
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                          Tip of the Day

Active Windows Border

Take a look at the borders around the open windows on your
desktop.  Wish they were a little bigger, so you'd have more to
grab onto when you want to resize them?  Maybe they are too large
and you'd like to shrink them a bit.

Right-click the desktop, select Properties, and click the
Appearance tab. Under Items, select Active Window Border, then
adjust its Size to whatever you want. You will see a preview
which shows the effect of your change. Click Apply, and from now
on, all your windows, including your taskbar will be resized.  I
prefer a setting of "18"

                                   Bob
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                   Today's Highlight in History

On this day in 1792, a group of twenty-four traders gathered
under a buttonwood tree at 68 Wall Street in lower Manhattan to
mete out the conditions and regulations of the speculative
market. The result was the Buttonwood Agreement, a modest, two
sentence contract that gave birth to the New York Stock Exchange,
which would become the world's largest forum for trading stocks
and securities.

Where speculators had previously conducted their auctions twice a
day in various locations, including street corners and
coffeehouses, the Buttonwood Agreement established stricter rules
and parameters to more effectively govern trading.
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               Food for Thought by Dr. Kevin Nunley

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              Lexis Battles An Internet Upstart Over
                   Distributing Case Law Online

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff is expected to issue a
preliminary ruling that will decide whether Jurisline.com, an
Internet company that offers gargantuan databases of court
opinions copied from CD-ROMs by another company called Lexis,
violates federal law.

Jurisline's creator, Lee Eichen, leased Lexis's Law on Disc set
in 1999, copied the information, and then posted it online.
Jurisline provides free access to the information, selling
advertising space to other companies to make a profit. In an
effort to avoid legal action, the company filed suit seeking
declaratory judgment that their actions were lawful.

Lexis immediately filed a counter suit asking for $25
million in punitive damages. Lexis, which ironically built its
own large databases by copying from a company called West
Publishing, argues that Jurisline's actions could negate years
of effort and large sums of money spent to acquire the
information it leases online. West Publishing and Lexis now
dominate the industry, and their parent companies are currently
working together to remove online competition by lobbying
Congress to pass a bill that would prohibit others from taking
large bodies of "substantial" information from databases if the
action harms the original collector.

The Supreme Court ruled in a 1991 telephone book case that "sweat
of brow" when compiling a directory out of large amounts of non-
copyrighted information does not qualify the collector for legal
protection.
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                        Quotable Quotes

He conquers who endures.

Persius [34 b.c.-62 b.c.], Roman poet
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                         Trivia for Today

The word "xerox" is an abbreviation of "xerography" meaning "dry
writing" in Greek. This came about because its inventor Chester
Carlson invented a method of copying that didn't involve any
liquid. Chester sold his invention to Haloid Company that th en
changed its name to Xerox!
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                       The Dollar Stretcher
                         by Gary Foreman

Divorce Planning

Dear Dollar Stretcher,

    A year ago my husband of 17 years asked for a divorce.  After
many dollars to my attorney and a Certified Divorce Planner it
appears a settlement is near.  Should I use the divorce planner
as my financial planner? I will have a lump sum settlement of
approximately $300K and no debt. Child support will be around
$2000 per month for two teenage boys (13 & 15).  I have lots of
questions about how best to handle a settlement that is 50% a
QDRO, 25% stocks and 25% cash.

Starting Over again at 47

     Starting Over is not alone. Federal government statistics
indicate that there will be nearly 1 million divorces this year.
And she's wise to be concerned with finances. According to the
Census Bureau, in 1998 there were 3.8 million women headed
households living below the poverty level. Obviously not all of
them are divorced. But it does show how hard it is for a single
parent to keep afloat financially.

     She will need to pursue two types of financial planning;
budget planning and also investment planning. The planner she
chooses should be versed in both areas. One advisor is best since
the plans are inter-related.

     She'll need to start with a budget. Using last year's income
and expenses as a guide, she'll estimate a new budget without her
husband. She'll find that expenses will drop in some areas.
Clothing, for instance. But many expenses will probably stay just
about the same. Utilities, property taxes, and homeowner's
insurance won't change much.

     Housing is a critical expense. She will need nearly as much
living space as before. Starting Over should try to keep housing
to less than 35% of her after tax income. That may mean moving to
a smaller or less desirable home.

     Some expenses will go up. Medical insurance is one potential
problem. She could lose coverage through her husband's plan at
work. Even if he's responsible for the boys, Starting Over will
need insurance for herself. She can use COBRA to buy a policy,
but she'll pay the premiums.

     Once a budget is roughed out, Starting Over will have a
clearer picture. Like the rest of us, she'll need to keep
expenses under income. If she doesn't she'll quickly consume the
settlement. And she should remember that child support isn't
always dependable. Reports indicate that less than half of all
child support payments are received on time and for the full
amount.

     Starting Over will also need to prepare for some major
milestones. An important one is college for the boys. Although
costs vary significantly she can expect to pay about $10,000 per
year for a public university. And that goes up about 5% per year.

     She's fortunate to take a nest egg with her. That money can
be used to provide monthly income or saved for major expenses
like retirement.

     It's not surprising that 50% of the settlement comes through
a QDRO (Qualified Domestic-Relations Order). That's a court order
that awards a share of a pension plan to a divorced spouse. She
won't necessarily get a check immediately. It's even possible
that she won't begin to receive payments until her ex-spouse
retires.

     There are three key concepts to investment planning for
Starting Over. They are risk vs. return, income vs. growth, and
diversification.

     She will need to guard her $300,000 nest egg carefully. It's
going to be harder for her to accumulate wealth after divorce.

     That brings us to the first concept: risk vs. reward. She
needs to be aware of the additional risks that she takes to get a
high return on her money.

     For instance, she can get about 6.3% on a 5 year CD. That
would provide her a guarantee of principal and an annual return
of $18,900. Or she could invest in the stock market looking for
higher rates. But, then her money is at risk.

     A prudent strategy would be to put part of the money in
something very safe (like CD's) and part of it in something more
aggressive (a mutual fund invested in stocks).

     Starting Over will also need to choose between income and
growth. With some investments she can choose to either take the
money that's earned or have it reinvested.

     The decision is an important one. She can use the income
generated to help pay the monthly bills. But then the principal
will never grow. And that's dangerous for the future. A 4%
inflation rate will cut her buying power by half in 18 years. By
the time Starting Over is 83 the money will be worth only one
quarter of it's value today.

     But, she also needs to pay her monthly bills. You see the
trade-off. Every dollar that she spends today means three or four
dollars that she won't have later.

     Next, Starting Over needs to take advantage of
diversification. That's the strategy of owning a variety of
investments. Not only a number of different stocks, but different
types of investments.

     The reason is simple. Events that are bad for one type of
investment will work to increase the value of others. Bad news
for the stock market is often good news for bonds or real estate.

     A good portfolio should include equities (stocks), debt
instruments (bonds, CD's), hard assets (gold, real estate) and
cash equivalents (money market funds). No-load mutual funds are
an excellent way to participate in each.

     Diversification is great insurance for the average investor.
Starting Over should try to have about ten different investments.
Each should be about 10% of her investable money. That way even
if one loses money it won't impoverish her.

     Finally, a comment to anyone who's thinking of going down
this path. Your marriage may be hurting you emotionally today,
but a divorce could add financial pain later.

     The plain fact is that divorce is expensive. Not only the
lawyers and advisors, but you can't run two households for the
price of one. The only way to hold expenses is to reduce
lifestyle. So please think carefully before you head for divorce.
It's possible that the money and energy you'll spend on a divorce
could be used to rejuvenate your marriage. We wish all the best
to Starting Over and her family.

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Gary is a former Certified Financial Planner who currently edits
the Dollar Stretcher website http://www.stretcher.com where
you'll find the web's largest collection of free money and time
saving articles.
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That's it for now.

Best Wishes
Bob Osgoodby
http://www.adv-marketing.com/business

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To view our Tips Archive, go to:
http://adv-marketing.com/business/tod.htm

Bob Osgoodby - bob@adv-marketing.com
http://adv-marketing.com/business

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