INVEST

Savings

Current savings interest rates for Certificates of Deposit and Money Market accounts are tracked by Bankrate.com

If you want to many decades worth of statistics, Selected Interest Rates: Historical Data for CDs is archived by the Federal Reserve.

A comprehensive site for information on "529 Plans" and saving for college is Savingforcollege.com. You can also consult Independent 529 Plan concerning prepaid tuition plans sponsored by private or independent colleges.

Stocks

Bloomberg.com offers World Equity Indices as well as the Movers by Index, a sortable list of stocks and their performance on several major markets. Good market coverage is also available from Yahoo! Finance: Today's Markets has trading volumes, market indices, and financial news.

The best source of Historical Quotes is Yahoo! Finance; you can obtain stock prices (open, high, low, close) back to December 1981, along with basic charts. More detailed charts can be created with SharpCharts from StockCharts.com.

Bonds

Current corporate bond prices and selected transaction data are available from the Corporate Bond Trades Report of the Bond Market Association. More descriptive details (and more complete transaction data) on the individual bonds may be obtained from NASD BondInfo.

Current and historical (back to 2000) municipal bond prices can be found at MunicipalBonds.com. This site provides summary reports for each trading day, not by issuing authority or state agency. The Bond Market Association also provides a daily report of Municipal Bond Transactions which is sortable by credit rating, maturity, or volume traded.

The Treasury Department provides a description of the various Government securities as well as prices and yields from the Treasury Bill, Note, and Bond Auction History.

Mutual Funds

The most useful site for mutual fund (and bond fund) information is Morningstar.com, with free fund screening and profiles; detailed reports require a subscription but you can sign up for a free 14-day trial.

For investors with concerns about corporate ethics, environmental initiatives, and workplace conditions, SocialFunds.com provides news and profiles of dozens of socially responsible mutual funds.

Research

A comprehensive site for current stock quotes and market indexes is Reuters Investor. Financial highlights, stock charts, and earnings estimates are also available if you register.

Another Website with stock and market information is the Quicken.com Investing Center.

• Datamonitor Business Information Centre: provides original industry and company reports based on published research and primary and secondary data sources.
• Global Financial Data: a collection of historical and current financial and economic data covering more than 150 different countries. Daily, weekly, monthly, and annual data, with excellent coverage of stock markets, interest rates, exchange rates, inflation, and commodity prices.
• Mergent Online: a database of corporate information covering over 22,000 US and foreign public companies. Includes up to 15 years of annual and quarterly financial data, including balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and financial ratios.

Advisors

To check up on your investment adviser firm, use the Investment Adviser Public Disclosure website from the Securites and Exchange Commission.

Consult the Watchfire GómezPro Scorecards for various rankings (by category or user profile) of discount brokers and full-service brokerage firms.

To check up on your broker or brokerage firm, start with NASD BrokerCheck from the National Association of Securities Dealers. Monthly reports are archived at NASD Enforcement Actions.

If you are tired of dealing with a broker, consider direct investing with NetstockDirect.com and learn about dividend-reinvestment plans (or DRIPs) at DirectInvesting.com