Online Investing Hacks

The Best Portfolio Management Tools for a Fee

Free tools cover the basics, but you can conduct an in-depth examination of your portfolio with these for-fee portfolio management tools.

What starts out as a reasonably well-diversified portfolio can become a mish-mash of mutual funds, stocks, and bonds that won’t help you meet your goals. Although free management tools offer tremendous features [Hack #76] , more sophisticated tools can offer more detail to help you decide what to do.

For many investors, digging up details doesn’t mean parting with additional cash. Many fund companies and brokerages provide strong portfolio management tools for their clients. The fees are included already in the expense ratios, brokerage commissions, and other fees you’re currently paying. Table 8-4 profiles the tools available at three of the largest and most popular fund companies and brokers: Vanguard (http://www.vanguard.com), Fidelity (http://www.fidelity.com), and Charles Schwab (http://www.schwab.com ). It’s particularly convenient to work with portfolio management tools when your broker or fund company provides your portfolio information online.

Tip

Many sites enable you to enter or import data from other accounts, so you can use one site’s analysis tools for your entire portfolio, even if your funds are with a fund company and your stocks with a broker. If you use a broker or fund company other than the ones in this hack, check its web site for portfolio management tools.

Table 8-4. Portfolio ...