Spare Change

Money Tip

Financial planning — especially when it comes to taxes and estates — is as much about giving it away as about keeping it. One way to reap tax benefits while donating to a good cause is to visit a lawyer and create one of several kinds of charitable trusts. The most popular type is called a charitable remainder trust. It allows you to contribute assets such as cash, stock or other securities.

You then pay yourself a fixed income each year from the proceeds, for example, 5 percent or $5,000.

Survey says

More than half of college students have at least one credit card that is billed to them, a new study says, and about a quarter of those students have used their cards to pay tuition.

Overall, more than four in 10 student cardholders carried a balance from month to month, with a median balance of $1,000, according to an American Council on Education analysis of 2003-2004 federal data released Monday.

Net nugget

How much are your dollars worth in another country? The World Wide Web can provide the answer.

A number of Web sites feature currency exchange conversion calculators based on the Interbank rate for currency trading.

If you’re interested with dabbling in the currency exchange markets or planning for a business or vacation trip, the following sites will give you the latest exchange rates for Yen, Euros, Pesos, Pounds and dozens of other national currencies.

Bloomberg

www.bloom berg.com/ invest// calculators/ currency.html

Provides foreign exchange calculations for more than 200 currencies.

CoinMill.com

coinmill.com/ exchange(under score)rate (underscore) calc.html

Offers four methods of foreign currency conversions, including a multi-currency global conversion tool.