Time is money, and nowhere is that more true than in the world of investing.

On most finance sites, stock quotes are delayed 15 or 20 minutes. That lag can mean a difference of 50 cents or more in share price, which can cost you hundreds of dollars of potential profit.

If that's the kind of money that matters to you, here's big news: MSN Money is now the only major finance portal that offers FREE real-time stock quotes. Zero delay. Up to 1,500 per month.

Same for real-time intraday stock charts.

Elsewhere, you'll be asked to pay as much as $13.95 per month for real-time data like this. Or if you want a "deal," you can shell out more than $130 for a full year. Woohoo!

Here's some advice: Take that $130 and put it in your IRA or 401(k). Thirty years from now your nest egg will be $19,000 bigger. That's another way of turning time into money.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Common/FreeCharting.aspx

I don't remember paying for real-time quotes anywhere.

Finance portals are for after-hours research / watching, not going to log in and execute an action right now, if anything.

During the day, any decent broker will provide you with real-time quotes and usually real-time charts, with no extra charge.

If you plan on placing an order based on a real-time price, you should be logged in already, as you need to be in order to place the order.

Why bother using a portal site for free real time quotes? All online bank brokers give free unlimited real time quotes like BOA, Citi, Wells and all discount brokers too like Schwab, Fidelity, Etrade etc. Some of the above sites even have free real time stock tickers which you can enter stock you want to watch which are updated in real time.

If you looking at real time stock quotes at MSN or whatever other portal and then decided you want to make a purchase by the time you login into your broker's site the price could have changed already so using your brokers site has some advantage as you make a trade right away with just a few clicks once you see the action your were waiting for.