If you itemize your deductions at tax time, read on. Yahoo Finance has an intriguing page entitled The 13 Most Overlooked Tax Deductions. Years ago, the head of the IRS told Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine that he figured millions of taxpayers overpaid their taxes every year by overlooking just one of the money-savers shown in Yahoo’s list. (Kim Komando)

Short of cash, but you’re balking at the interest rates charged? Here comes the internet to the rescue with peer-to-peer lending, also called social lending. Whereas the banks’ loan department may ask 13% on conventional personal loans, Lending Club may get you a rate as low as 7.5%. Your credit score applies of course, credit checks will be run and if you default you’ll still be hounded by a collection agency. The other half of the operation promises lenders an annualized rate of return of perhaps 11%. (Parade)

I’ve often enjoyed watching and learning from the Antiques Roadshow and seeing how close or far my guess is from the experts’ valuations of strange and unusual objects. Now there is a chance to do just that online: guess the value of the objects on display at MyThings and compare your estimate with others. You can’t buy things here, but it can give you a feel for the market in numerous categories from appliances to wine. You can also register (free) and find out the value of your own object. (Kim Komando)

Social Security starts to become insolvent in 2040 unless something is done soon. To understand the various ways there are in which to adjust the system, play the Social Security Game at the American Society of Actuaries. It’s almost fun, but not quite. At least you’ll learn how much a given change is likely to contribute to the desired result. (St. Petersburg Times)

How do you decide what organizations are worthy of your charitable donations? One answer is to head over to Charity Navigator, Your Guide To Intelligent Giving. Check out the one- to four-star rating, or for more detail look at what percentage of their money goes into overheads, how many of the CEO’s relatives are on the payroll, and how a charity compares with its peers. I learned a lot by consulting their Top Ten Lists. (Kim Komando)

If you intend to be an active investor there’s a lot to learn. You can find a rather painless looking set of free classes at Morningstar’s Investing Classroom, where beginners won’t be intimidated and experienced investors can surely learn something. The catalog is graded so you can quickly find your own level. Curriculum areas are Stocks, Funds, Bonds, Portfolio. Try them out or register (free) so you can earn credits you can trade for rewards. (Kim Komando)

Whether you are already retired or not, there is some very useful financial advice for you from the government at MyMoney.gov Have you planned sensibly for your retirement? What rights do widows or widowers have in Social Security? What about your spouse’s pension when he or she dies? Your taxes pay for this site so you might as well take advantage of it. (Kim Komando)

“I’m good about watching where my money goes. After all, I worked hard to earn it. So I don’t let much of it slip past me. I check for unclaimed property regularly with the state of Arizona. See, each state keeps a database of unclaimed property. The unclaimed property can come from a variety of places. It could come from a forgotten bank account, royalties, utility deposits or other places. NAUPA (National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators – what a mouthful!) provides links to states' databases of unclaimed property. Enter your name to see if you have a little cash awaiting you. And don’t forget to check regularly!” (Kim Komando)

What do you suppose the following five corporations have in common: eBay, Xerox, Sara Lee, Harpo and Avon? The answer is their CEOs are all women; and what's more they are the five most powerful women in the country, according to the Fortune magazine 2005 listing of the top fifty. Also interesting is that Carly Fiorina as the ex-CEO of Hewlett-Packard is off the list and Martha Stewart is back on it. And I'll bet you don't know any of the other forty-four. (Gary Stanley newsletter)

We all know that the cost of buying practically anything keeps increasing relentlessly, and to prove it you can take a look at the Christmas Price Index. Every year since 1984, the financial firm PNC Advisors has worked out the cost of the items in the Twelve Days of Christmas carol and posts the results on its website.  Wages, rising fuel costs and outsourcing all affect the results, where for 2004 the price of Three French Hens had the largest year-over-year increase, and Two Turtle Doves actually declined in price. They also claim that most things are more expensive when purchased over the internet, perhaps because of S&H. (Netsurfer Digest)

Thanks to a new federal law, you can annually order a free copy of your credit report from each of the three agencies who produce them. This service was available in the Western, Midwest, and Southern states by June 1, 2005, and will be available in the whole country by September 1, 2005. The link is to Annual Credit Report or you can call them toll free at 1–877–322–8228. By some extraordinary bureaucratic decision, however, I understand the reports include only your credit transactions but not your actual credit rating! (AARP)

Wow! I am impressed that somebody at Dow Jones has been able to offer us a graphical one-page view of the stock market, or rather six hundred company stocks all at once; you can find it at Map of the Market. It's divided into market segments, and the subdivisions within a segment represent individual companies. The rectangular area for a company represents its market cap, while the color shows whether its stock price is rising, falling, or no change (green, red and black, respectively). Click a company to get basic price and trend; click again to access more details and charts. At the top there's a link to Mutual Fund Map and, intriguingly, to Map Your Portfolio. (Smart Computing)

We all know who is the richest person in the world, but who is the second richest? It's the Oracle of Omaha, of course, Warren Buffet. Wouldn't you like some financial advice from him? Look for the (Share) Owner's Manual at Berkshire Hathaway Inc. by Warren Buffet, discussing the ten business principles he formulated with the objective of making money for his shareholders.  They must have been good; his company has outperformed the S&P 500 index 33 of 39 years since 1965.  Don't get too excited, however; at last check, you had to lay down $87,500 to buy one share of BRK-A. Just settle instead for reading some of the delightful and insightful advice in his Letters to the Shareholders. (Recycled)

I have recently become a devotee of that wonderful online encyclopedia, Wikipedia. But now I've learned that there are numerous specialized online -opedias that have sprung up to serve more specific interests. For example there is Investopedia, a richly educational site covering every aspect of investing. Although you will see limited ads by brokers and others,  it is not sponsored by a brokerage and looks pretty independent to me. There are many topical articles covering all aspects of the investment game, a glossary of terms, tutorials, research reports, a simulator--"paper trading", tools (free guides, reports, newsletters, etc.) and even a free Investopedia toolbar you can install on your browser.  (David Henry)

Are you considering using an online brokerage? Are you already using one? Whatever your answers to these questions, you might want to carefully review the Investing Online Resource Center, a nonprofit site with some excellent advice. If you're "just looking," take the Are You Ready? quiz, read the 8 Things You Need to Know, and view the Online Broker Ratings. If you are already online, read about Your Rights, Facts About After-Hours Trading, and Online Complaint Center. In any case, be sure to try the Investing Simulator Center. (David Henry)

The trouble with insider trading is that by the time you hear about it, it may be many weeks after the event. Even though the SEC now requires company reports to be filed online, the famous EDGAR database doesn't get updated straightaway. So you still won't quickly get to know when the Board and senior officers of a company start dumping (or pumping) their own stock, although they are also supposed to file a notice of intention to sell a large number of shares. Don't try looking at Edgar; it's easier if you use a site such as Smart Money, which makes more sense. Get a company quote, and then click Insiders on the horizontal menu. But the info is still about two months out of date. (Yahoo News)

Are your US Savings Bonds still earning interest? Are you sure? Are you thinking of buying new ones? Everything you need to know about Series I, E/EE, H/HH and other bonds can be found in easily digestible form at Savings Bonds Alert. When should you cash them in, what the various interest rates are, how to register new ones and similar arcana may be found at this helpful, useful site. (Tom Weishaar)

Have you ever been mystified by some of the terms bandied around by stockbrokers, financial advisors, insurance agents and the like? Well, you can get a leg up on them by consulting the Bloomberg Glossary, which can tell you about Angels, Aspirin, Aunt Millie and several thousand other arcane financial terms. While there, you can also click on Bloomberg University that gives free tutorials on investing and related topics. (Netsurfer Digest)

I can't resist taking a peek at the latest Forbes calculations of the world's richest people, that is the estimated 476 billionaires. Some factoids: If you consider the heirs of Sam (WalMart) Walton collectively, they exceed Bill Gates' fortune by about 50%. The latest entry to the club is Oprah Winfrey.  The former Soviet Union now has seventeen members in the club.  Of the many lists offered here, the most intriguing is the list of the Ten Most Powerful billionaires (money + influence), six of whom I'd never even heard of.   (Recycled) 

Many investors downgrade published broker research, considering it biased and self-interested. Others prefer unofficial "chat" or "whispers" from traders. This shows up at EarningsWhispers where the focus is on predicted company earnings compared with actual earnings. It's not clear who supplies these whispers, but the site owners have developed an investing system based on them. It can't do any harm just to look, can it? (Guardian Weekly)

If you've taken a beating in the markets lately, you have a chance to get your revenge at News Futures - without risking a dime. It's an ingenious game sponsored by USA Today whereby you can buy "contracts" on whether the Dow Jones or other indices will go up or down tomorrow, using play money (X$). Bid on other markets, too, and on sports results, technical prospects and news outlooks ("Will Sharon outlast Arafat?").  Then use your winning X$ to bid on real prizes (TVs, DVD players, etc)  (Netsurfer Digest)

I'm continually impressed by the variety of features and breadth of quality information offered by Yahoo!.  Now thanks to both the Webby Awards and Peoples Voice, Yahoo Finance has been voted the best finance website for 2002. In addition to the latest market prices and news stories, there is a range of topics under the headings Investing and Personal Finance. Under Investing, for example, you'll find a major subtopic like Mutual Funds. That leads to a Most Popular Fund list and an Alphabetical Fund list where each fund is briefly described; click on any one to transfer to that fund's website. Under Personal Finance, there are major subtopics such as Insurance; it provides extensive advice on Auto, Health, Home and Life Insurance. (Webby Awards)

The World's Richest People has to be the ultimate in compulsive reading.  Not only does Forbes give potted business biographies of the world's billionaires, but it lets you play around with this database in ways that are impossible with the print edition.  Sort by Worth, Alphabetically by name, by Age, by Industry, by Marital Status or by Country.  See who's on and who's off the list since 1996. Or view the top 800 CEO's list and the top 100 Celebrities. (Net Surfer Digest)

Not to be outdone, Fortune has its own string of lists, including the engaging America's Forty Richest Under Forty.  Michael Dell is on top of that heap, and Tiger Woods just squeaks in with a mere $160 million.  By the way, a graduate degree is no way to get on this list: only 3 of these forty had any postgraduate education. (Net Surfer's Digest)