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Ideas for your money
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March 25, 2000: 11:07 a.m. ET
Online insurance, negotiating relocation packages and the ABC's of index funds
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Before you accept a new job thousands of miles from home, consider your moving expenses and bargain for relocation costs. Learn how to shop for insurance on the Internet and prepare for the decimal prices soon to arrive at the NYSE and Nasdaq.
Check out these stories and more featured in our personal finance section this past week.
Decimal prices for stocks are on the way for U.S. markets, and for many investors, it's about time.
Congress first lit a fire under the industry to change from fractions to decimals in early 1997. At the start of this year, with Y2K behind it, the Securities and Exchange Commission laid down the law that U.S. markets switch by July 3.
Earlier this month, the Nasdaq stock market said it couldn't hit the deadline. The SEC pushed back the date the markets must present their conversion plan a month, to April 13. The switch itself may well get pushed back from July, too.
But those are timing issues. The gist still is that decimals are coming soon
to a stock market near you. What does that mean for Main Street?
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Only three out of 10 people with developmental disabilities have jobs --meaning that the unemployment rate is 70 percent for the 1.2 million Americans of working age who have a developmental disability, compared with a U.S. national average of 4.1 percent.
 The rate is higher for those with developmental disabilities, which typically involve some type of mental retardation and possibly physical problems, such as with cystic fibrosis.
But job opportunities have improved, even from just a few years ago. So has the attitude of many employers, teachers and family members.
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You've accepted a job with a West Coast start-up promising hefty stock options and more-than-adequate pay.
 Or maybe your company is gearing up for its international push, and the boss tapped you to spearhead the effort from Madrid.
Whatever the reason for packing your bags, experts say you'll need to find
out what should be negotiated into a relocation package - before it's too late.
--more--
Diamonds. Spiders. Cubes. Webs. Catchy names that mean investors have more jargon to get used to.
But those tools, which fall under the less catchy category of "exchange-traded index shares," can help investors build a diversified portfolio.
 And you won't have to be a market pro to understand what's in it.
Investment advisers generally have good things to say about Cubes, Diamonds and Spiders. But many say investors don't understand them, and
some advisers admit they aren't as familiar with them as they should be.
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In the Woody Allen film "Take the Money and Run," prison officials punish a would-be escaped convict by locking him up in solitary confinement -- with an insurance agent.
 OK, that's a little harsh. But if you really don't want to sit across the table from an insurance salesman, you can sit across from your computer instead and get price quotes and certain types of coverage over the Internet.
Experts say you can save money and shoe leather by shopping online.
--more-- 
- compiled by staff writer Antoinette Coulton
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