Net Worth

In the beginning, the Web provided information. Quirky sites such as the IRS's Digital Daily made personal finance headaches like paying taxes a bit less painful. They explained the filing process. They offered advice. They even provided downloadable forms. But cybersearching for lower tax, insurance, and mortgage rates still absorbed inordinate amounts of your time and money, because it forced you to wade through reams of irrelevant data.

Now the Web is redeeming all that time and money by calculating exactly what you need and helping you find it. It saved Billy Mancil thousands of dollars on insurance premiums by scanning for the rates that best matched his personal profile. Bryan Buus used the Web to calculate the exact interest rate for refinancing his home and then applied for the mortgage online. A free scholarship search on the Web rewarded Sherry Bradford with $1,000 toward her degree. And an online tax program saved Pat Lottier hours of expensive tax consultation.

The Web won't zap away all of your Money Headaches, but it can certainly make you a more informed, efficient manager of your finances. Just follow the bookmarks below.

Automatic Insurance

Webhead: Billy Mancil, 55, owner of two Hallmark stores and a Wymans department store in Douglas, Georgia.

Financial Headache: Finding insurance to protect my children from business debt.

Favorite Web Site: While researching stocks on the Internet this past October, I came across the Quicken site and noticed its link to Intuit's InsureMarket http://www.insuremarket.com . I had a policy coming up for renewal in January, so I took a look.

I didn't need to use its 60-Second Selector tool (a series of questions that help users decide among the five types of insurance: term, whole, variable, universal, and universal variable). I knew I wanted term life, the least expensive way to provide for your dependents. I needed a policy strictly as a precaution: If I die prematurely, my business debt will be paid off by the insurer rather than passed on to my children.

I filled out the four-minute personal profile, which asks some 20 questions about your age, weight, hobbies, and health. I immediately received quotes from State Farm and Lincoln Benefit Life, and was amazed at how much money I could save. Lincoln Benefit Life offered a term life policy guaranteed for 10 years at a fixed rate of $1,595 per year for $500,000 worth of coverage. My previous company's policy cost about $2,600 per year, which is a savings right there of $1,000, but I was also looking at rate increases of $5000 to 6,000.

I submitted an application, and one week later I was taking my physical for the policy. It was surprisingly easy. And I love how the Internet eliminates some of the overhead of selling insurance, so the savings can be passed on to customers.

Tip: Research the insurance company thoroughly. Check Out: its ratings and how long it's been in business. If the company doesn't have name recognition, see where it's listed in comparison with other insurance companies using ratings such as Standard and Poor's.

What to Avoid: Don't make a decision too quickly. InsureMarket saves your personal profile, so you can take your time and watch the rates move or research insurance companies. There's no salesperson hassling you to buy something. When you return to the site, all your information is still there.

Coordinates: William Mancil, bmancil@surfsouth.com

Bonus Insurance Site: Insurance & Risk Management Central (http://www.irmcentral.com)

Check Out: The Longevity Game from Northwestern Mutual Life. Everyone starts with an average life expectancy of 73 years; that number goes up or down as you answer questions on 11 different topics ranging from diet to family history. Do you exercise regularly? Add three years to your life. Do you consume three or more alcoholic beverages at least three times per week? Subtract three years. It's fun, and it's a great way to identify factors that are driving up your rates.