If you’re ready to start investing or have been building up your portfolio for some time, make sure you’re taking advantage of some of the most convenient tools available to track those investments. You can always turn to your financial adviser for updates and reports, but many now offer web-based tools and recommend apps to help you monitor your accounts.
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While you now have all this information at your fingertips, keep in mind that you don’t have to check your accounts every day — or even every week. Tom Foster, senior leader of strategic relationships at MassMutual Financial Group, recommends only accessing your financial information about once per quarter. “Market fluctuations can have a significant effect on investment totals depending on economic news, natural disasters and international markets,” says Foster. “Long-term investors should stay informed, but not watch their accounts go up and down and potentially make the mistake of moving their money in a panic.”
When it’s time to take a closer look at that portfolio, consider using any of these valuable tools for keeping track of your investments.
Personal Capital. One of the most comprehensive apps for tracking all of your financial activities, Personal Capital makes it easy to monitor and track your net worth. You can link multiple investment accounts separately and have easy access to your portfolio performance and investment allocations on your mobile device or desktop. You can also make use of the Investment Checkup tool, which will map out your target allocation and make recommendations. If you like to be very hands-on with your portfolio management activities, this may be the best tracking tool for you.
Ticker. If you like to review graphs and reports on your own rather than relying solely on recommendations or suggestions from a software program, try Ticker to see detailed, real-time data about the value of your accounts, profits and losses and other important details. You can set up push notification alerts based on different “triggers,” including price changes, volume changes and certain percentage thresholds based on your goals. The app also makes it easy to review the real-time market value of your accounts in a few screen swipes. Use the app to compare portfolio performance metrics side by side.
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Ellevest. Senthil Kumar, vice president of marketing at Oracle Financial Services, says that “digital technologies have transformed the way people can track investments.” Kumar calls out Ellevest, one of the newest players in the financial-tech industry designed for women interested in investing, as an example of online platforms changing the way people are managing their money.
Ellevest provides a personalized portfolio based on your age and zip code, gives you the option to customize your plan based on your goals and allows you to fund your plan and set up contributions online — all the things a financial adviser would do. You’ll have access to tracking tools and will also get updates and alerts if you start falling short of your goals. If you don’t like the idea of setting up face-to-face meetings with a financial adviser, the tools available through Ellevest could make it easier to track your investments and also learn about investing in the process.
Morningstar. Another robust tracking tool well-suited for amateur investors, Morningstar makes it easy to evaluate the performance of different investments side by side with a visual graph and charts. This one doesn’t link to your investment accounts, so you will need to dedicate some time in setting it up. However, you will receive reports with detailed information about how your holdings are performing and tips on diversifying your portfolio to improve performance.
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Google Finance. If you want to keep things very simple, stick with the bare bones portfolio tracking tools available through Google Finance. You can create a portfolio to track investments through your Google account and even make deposits or withdrawals. This online tracking tool will take care of portfolio charting and help you monitor your stock watchlist quickly and efficiently. You won’t be able to analyze in-depth with this tool, but you will be able to see real-time stock updates and monitor the market.
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5 Great Ways to Keep Track of Your Investments originally appeared on usnews.com
