Online Portfolio Management

I recently tried using MSN Money to manage a portfolio of stocks, first using Firefox and then the latest version of Microsoft's own Internet Explorer. Either way the result was the same: complete bewilderment.

I created a new "Windows Live ID" account with my UK postcode, and headed straight for the portfolio manager. This was helpfully pre-populated with various US stock indices: Dow Jones, NASDAQ Composite & S&P 500. Undeterred, I hit the New Transaction button which took me to a page with a helpful message about selecting an account, entering "the price of the transaction in the currency you used to purchase the investment" and the "cost of the commission in the currency used in the account" and hitting submit.

It turns out even this limited and poorly explained functionality was a cruel hoax.
Continue reading "MSN Money Mayhem"

Google Finance was a breath of fresh air when it launched in March 2006 simply because you could search for a stock by name without having to remember its ticker symbol. Yahoo Finance has since caught up in this respect: now both sites have sophisticated search systems, both with auto-completion. Beyond that, how do they compare when it comes to helping you research stocks and monitor your portfolio's performance?

Research

Winner: Tie

Yahoo has more useful information available for each stock, such as transactions by company officers and directors. In fact Google even links to Yahoo's site for research reports (Update Aug 2010: Google Finance now use Reuters for research reports, but still use Yahoo! Finance for director dealings).

Google, however, does a better job of presenting the information it has. For example, the ability to view news events on the price chart is particularly useful.

Both sites are decent for research. I expect Google will integrate more information as time goes on, and Yahoo will enhance their visualisation options (they have new charts in beta, but these still don't include news events).

Current Portfolio Holdings

Winner: Yahoo
Continue reading "Yahoo Finance vs. Google Finance"

It makes sense to track your stock portfolio's performance online: quotes are updated in near real-time, your securities are linked to information and analysis for each stock... All you have to do is enter your transactions at home and you can then check your portfolio in the dodgiest-looking internet café in Lagos without worrying about the sysadmin investing all the cash at your actual broker in ZZZBest.

This blog reports on the major websites that allow you to track the performance of a portfolio of stocks online, for free: Yahoo! Finance, Google Finance and AOL Money & Finance, etc.

Hopefully, it will help you find the best free online financial portfolio service for your needs!