MONEYWISE

Tips For Saving And Managing Your Money

• How to stay safe banking online
Q. I hear so much about hackers attacking Web sites and stealing people's personal information. Is it safe to bank online?

• Paying out of pocket could save on drugs
Q. I take simvastatin, a generic cholesterol drug. This is covered by my Medicare Part D plan, Humana PDP Enhanced. Humana pays $56.60 for a 90-day supply of simvastatin. I recently saw an ad by a pharmacy chain offering the same quantity and strength of simvastatin for $9.99.

• October slump brings pain and opportunity
For investors, October sits like a sharp curve in the road that must be approached with care.

• CEOs Feel the Pain
Here's something that might provide a bit of solace amid the plunging values in your retirement accounts: Warren Buffett is losing lots of money, too. So are Kirk Kerkorian, Carl Icahn and Sumner Redstone.

• CEOs Feel the Pain
Here's something that might provide a bit of solace amid the plunging values in your retirement accounts: Warren Buffett is losing lots of money, too. So are Kirk Kerkorian, Carl Icahn and Sumner Redstone.

• Verizon a superior purchase to MetroPCS
Q. I'm considering the purchase of either 200 shares of MetroPCS Communications Inc. or 100 shares of Verizon Communications Inc. This investment will be in my Roth independent retirement account, which you advised me to set up several years ago because the money won't be taxed when it comes out.

• Don't use credit card to pay down mortgage
Q. I have a mortgage of $213,000 on a home valued at $276,000. My credit score is 713. I'm wondering if I would be better off to max out all my credit cards - the combined limit total is approximately $70,000 - and pay down my mortgage? Can you advise? - Joyce

• Law allows access to health records
Q. I asked my doctor's office to let me look through my medical records and was told I would have to pay for an office visit and have my physician's assistant in the room while I looked through my file. Is this right? A While the doctor can charge you for inspecting your medical records, it would not be appropriate for the doctor to bill you as if it were an office visit, said Jeffrey Hammond, a state Health Department spokesman.

• Don't be in a rush to invest windfall
Q. I recently got a $92,600 windfall from selling farmland in Colorado and I want to invest it right away. I'm kind of scared to invest in our stock market now, even though one expert I read believes prices are a bargain today and is recommending dozens of stocks he feels are undervalued.

• October slump brings pain and opportunity
For investors, October sits like a sharp curve in the road that must be approached with care.

• Avoid Mistakes
In the summer of 2000, in the city of Akron, Ohio, the investment management firm of Oak Associates was the toast of the town. Run by a real gunslinger, Jim Oelschlager, Oak Associates and its flagship mutual fund, White Oak Growth, built a sterling track record by making concentrated bets in a few sectors such as financial services and, in particular, technology. At its peak in August 2000, Oak Associates employed 78 people and managed more than $32 billion in assets, quite a tidy sum for a boutique money manager.

• It's tough to qualify for 401(k) hardship
Q. My family is facing an emergency and we need cash to handle it. Does it make sense to take a "hardship withdrawal" from my 401(k)?

• Continuing coverage has expensive options
Q. I will be retiring next fall. My employer won't be providing any retiree health coverage. How much will I have to pay for health insurance for my wife and me? She does not work. We are both 61.

• Declining Fortunes
Q. I received an early retirement bonus, and I'm thinking of putting $48,000 of it into the 7 percent, three-year notes of Advanta Corp. They also have a 9 percent, 10-year note that I'd consider. Please tell me what you think and whether I would be better off with the 9 percent notes or the 7 percent notes or if I should buy $24,000 of the 7 percent notes and $24,000 of the 9 percent notes. A couple of friends bought those notes with their retirement bonuses and they think it would be good for me to do it, too. S.P., Bethlehem, Pa.

• Credit card company not overly creditable
Q. I received an early retirement bonus, and I'm thinking of putting $48,000 of it into the 7 percent, three-year notes of Advanta Corp. They also have a 9 percent, 10-year note that I'd consider. Please tell me what you think and whether I would be better off with the 9 percent notes or the 7 percent notes or if I should buy $24,000 of the 7 percent notes and $24,000 of the 9 percent notes. A couple of friends bought those notes with their retirement bonuses and they think it would be good for me to do it, too. S.P., Bethlehem, Pa.

• Panic buying, selling bad market strategy
The volatility that has hammered at the stock market in the past month has led many investors to give up and call in their "sell" orders. Cashing out might feel good at first but a sudden market rally could leave those on the sideline soon feeling regret.

• Toy-riffic Year
Toys may be the name of the game, but Hasbro Inc. isn't playing around. Strong sales from toys tied to summer blockbusters and successful licensing deals have buoyed Hasbro Inc.'s results and stock price this year.

• Consider the cost when refinancing
Q. We're considering refinancing our mortgage and adding $10,000 to pay off credit card debt. We have 14 years left on a 20-year, 7 percent fixed-rate mortgage with a balance of $112,000. Our credit union is offering a 15-year, 5.5 percent fixed-rate "refi." Does it make sense? - Roger

• In Case of Emergency
A sudden financial jolt - such as the wave of layoffs that recently rattled the lives of some Wall Street workers - could leave you scrambling to pay rent and eking by on credit cards.

• Law lets employees opt out of health care
Q. My employer provides our family health insurance, which means my husband is also covered under my plan. His employer requires him to have money withheld for his company's health insurance plan.

• Airline stocks risky
Airline shares and oil prices used to move together like kids on a teeter-totter, with one rising as the other sinks. But the financial crisis has thrown that conventional wisdom out the window.

• Airline stocks risky
Airline shares and oil prices used to move together like kids on a teeter-totter, with one rising as the other sinks. But the financial crisis has thrown that conventional wisdom out the window.

• Don't give up your money for your kids
Q. I am a 76-years-young woman and, over the last 15 years, have given nearly $600,000 to my children who needed this money at various times in their lives. Now I need money.