Brochures Help Victims Recover From Disasters

How can you recover after a natural disaster strikes?

The National Endowment for Financial Education and the American Red Cross have developed two free brochures to help you cope.

“Before Disaster Strikes” outlines some of the steps you can take to protect yourself financially from a flood or other such disaster.

The eight-page brochure offers tips on reducing the chances of property destruction, for example, and suggests where to stash cash.

“After Disaster Strikes” is a nine-page brochure that includes tips on reconstructing lost records, how to notify creditors, how to file an insurance claim, and what tax benefits may be available.

The brochures are available free from local Red Cross offices.

Tobacco holdings choking

A consumer group is urging nonsmokers to take note of just how much money they have in tobacco companies through mutual funds. But if funds reduce those holdings, it may well be because of liability, not shareholder, concerns.

Last week, the Liggett Group moved to settle a smoking liability lawsuit, the first such settlement attempted by a tobacco company. The market immediately pushed down the prices of most other tobacco stocks.

Many tobacco stocks pop up in the biggest funds. Nine of the 15 biggest funds recently listed tobacco stocks among their 10 largest holdings, according to a study by Co-op America, a consumer group that provides information on the social and economic consequences of investing.

The data were based on the most recent shareholder reports, but some are many months old.

Six of the 15 biggest funds held no tobacco stocks at the time of the study, including the Fidelity Magellan fund, the nation’s largest.

Friction spooks investors

The whiff of trouble between Taiwan and China spooked investors in mutual funds specializing in the Far East.

T. Rowe Price, Strong, Scudder and Invesco report net withdrawals for March.

And stock exchanges in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia declined anywhere from 3.1 percent to 7.2 percent.

But David Maplass of Bear Stearns said investors are abandoning a market with strong prospects based on growth, stable currencies and balanced budgets.

, DataTimes