Spare Change

Fund Fact

If you’ve been putting off opening an investment account outside your retirement savings, there’s an easy way to get started: Use a balanced fund. These ready-made portfolios combine stocks, bonds and cash, providing investors with instant diversity.

Market Tip

Morningstar suggests using this checklist to evaluate stock investments: Are high returns on invested capital consistent and sustainable? Second, how high are expectations? If you can answer “yes” and “low,” you’ve found a solid, although perhaps unloved, company that should yield a better result for your portfolio.

Net Nugget

More than a million charities are registered with the Internal Revenue Service, and the total is growing.

Web sites that evaluate charities include Guidestar.org, Charitynavi gator.org and Give.org, run by the Better Business Bureau.

Money Tip

Sometimes fate smiles, and you get a big chunk of money all at once. If that happens, 1) Open a money market account and park the cash for three to six months while you figure out what you want to do. 2) Make a list and prioritize it, and make sure paying off any high-interest credit card balances is high on that list. 3) Make a timeline. 4) Start shopping for investments.

Survey says

The Federal Reserve Board Survey of Consumer Finances said 10.6 percent of families did not have checking accounts in 2004, a state that’s called being “unbanked.” These typically are people who can least afford to pay high fees at check-cashing stores, the research found — the unbanked tend to be 18 to 35 years old, have a high school education or less, come from low to moderate incomes and are Hispanic, African-American or from immigrant groups.