So Many Choices for Investment Software

Posted on January 11, 2010 by admin

Before you start looking for investment software, take a few minutes to write down what you want the software to do for you.

A little direction will help. There are so many investment software options out there that the selection process isn’t going to be easy. A simple internet search on the term “investment software” will result in an excessive list of selections, making it difficult to know where to start. A good place to begin is by determining exactly what you want to do with the software. What are your needs? The first question you need to answer is…are you looking for something to track current investments, help you make investment choices, or do you want to use the software to issue sell and buy orders?

If you write down a few things that you want the software to do, it will give you a place to start. Then as the features are listed and the options grow, you’ll remember why you started looking for software in the first place.

In general, investment software can be grouped into three overall categories. There is software available for tracking, trading, and for helping you screen investment choices. Then the field blends a bit and there are programs that allow you to do two of these, or the software will have features that draw from all three categories.

Tracking Software

If all you want to do is monitor investments you already have, you are looking for tracking software. Options will vary, but usually tracking software will allow you to follow the progress of a stock or other investment over time. Chart trends, monitor ups and downs and dissect every blip and surge. This type of software is typically passive. You gather data and watch things happen. Some software programs allow you to set alert thresholds. Meaning an updated program will let you know you reached a specific goal. But you can’t use the software to make changes. Nor can you set guidelines for automatic action. If the software package is truly a tracking package and not a blend of elements, it can tell you to act, but you have to pick up the telephone, or send an email to your broker, or log into an account to make any changes.

Some of the features of tracking software include customizable options like creating a personal stock ticker. You can usually set the investment tracking software to Auto Update when you log into the internet, setting user-specified intervals. This means that your investments can be updated every minute, every day, or every week. You decide how often you want the information on your stocks and mutual funds. All reported data is computed based on your personal stock purchase price, dates and number of shares.

Something to consider with tracking only software—you may already have something on your computer that can be used for this. Quicken, Microsoft Money and other financial programs generally have at least a simple version of stock tracking software that will update stock prices and follow a stock or mutual funds progress. So check what your program can do before you shop for task-specific software.

Trading Software

Trading software for personal traders is often attached to online trading companies or your personnel broker. One downside to this type of software is that you have to purchase or sell stocks only through the company providing the software. But there are investment trading applications you purchase on your own that will allow you the freedom to trade with several different brokers. This way you utilize the same tools to analyze each investment, yet you aren’t confined to a specific brokerage house or seller.

The online trading software options are varied and some are more user friendly than others. There are often automated trading options. This means your sell or buy order will be sent to the company or broker automatically. No human intervention needed. You won’t have to be online or at your computer for your specific orders to be carried out, the order is sent based on target price points you put in place. For instance, if you want to sell a specific stock when it gets to a hundred dollars a share, the online program will issue the sell order as soon as the stock hits that price.

Online trading software generally is free if you open an online trading account with a minimum deposit. The minimum deposits vary by company and so does the price for each individual sell or buy order.

Screening or Selection Software

Selection software allows you to sort data based on abundant criterion. This type of software gives you options for your options, with the ability to dissect possible investments on several levels. This software can be bought, or if you want to play before you pay, some companies have trial offers. I also noticed a few freeware options available. Screening software is data intense. Most packages offer downloads to Excel or spreadsheet programs that allow you to fully analyze the data collected.

All investment software features vary, so do a little reading to determine if each package meets your needs. As you look over the options, don’t forget your original list of requirements. Make sure the investment software you choose meets those initial needs.

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Types of Investment

Posted on September 12, 2008 by admin

What Do You Need?

There are several types of investment software available to buy.  Depending on who you are and the type of investments you wish to make, choose the software that offers the features you need.  Financial software is a broad term that is given to a variety of types of software programs.  Each type is a bit different and offers something unique.  The manufacturers of this investment software are designing products that fit a variety of goals, too.  For this reason, it is important to look closely at any type of individual software and consider the long term benefits it has to offer to you.

Here are a number of different investment software types on the market.  Each type offers a variety of software products that fit under it.

Financial Planning Software:  Managing your goals for your money, this type of software will help you to make wise financial decisions.  It allows you to manage where your money is located, what is it earning for you and helps you to reduce any debt you have.  Financial planning software is often used by some professionals as a way of helping people get their future financial plans on paper and get them moving in the right direction.  It will help to show you what you have to do to obtain the goals you have for retirement, for savings, and for investments you wish to make.

Retirement Planning Software:  The key question here is who much do you need to be able to retire?  In order to answer that question, you need to be able to see what you have and what it will become for you in the coming years.  This type of software does that by considering the various types of software you have an even helping you to make wise financial decisions for the money you have coming in.  Retirement planning software can monitor the accounts you have, suggest other account options and helps you to choose retirement investments that will reach your goals.

Asset Allocation Software:  This type of software is designed to help you know where to put your money.  Where do you need to put your money to get the returns you are hoping for?  Better yet, these software programs often offer historical information.  This allows you to have a good idea where your money will be in the coming years based on historical data provided to you.  Asset allocation software for personal use can be quite helpful in making financial investment decisions.  Professional financial planners and investors use it regularly to estimate returns and to get a clear picture of profit ability.

Portfolio Management Software:  Your portfolio is your financial life story and managing it can be difficult.  This type of software will help you to make wise financial decisions based on what is in your portfolio.  It will connect all of your investments into one easy to manage software tool.  This allows you to see a snapshot of your money any time you would like to.  Some more advanced software programs also provide you with the ability to make adjustments to those investments while others offer suggestions about changes you could make.

Investment Model Software:  Both consumers and investors will benefit from using this type of investment software.  Many financial advisors use this type of software to show you what your money could do if you choose one type of investment over the other.  If you are losing money from your investment, this will help you to make the right decisions.  Many of these software programs offer historical information over the long period such as fee-based models over nine years of returns and all no load mutual funds and all loan mutual fund models over the five year period.

There are a number of other investing software products available as well.  You may want to consider bond calculators, which can provide you with a good idea on how bond values grow and how they can work in your investment portfolio.  You may want to use a mutual fund picking software tool.  This type of software will take in the information you provide to it and will recommend mutual funds you should chose from the 21 asset classes provided. This is a fantastic way to get information and to make adjustments to your financial future based on the information given to you from historical data or current market data.

When choosing any type of investment software, get a good idea of what the designers have put into it.  For example, some software will include more recommendations than just management features.  If this is the case, be sure you understand the type of advice it is giving you and determine if that advice matches the financial lifestyle you lead currently.  Those who want to manage their investments on their own have no benefit in recommending software, but may want to buy something that’s more intense in keeping up with the latest stock quotes.

One of the best ways to choose investment software of any type is to invest in well-reviewed products.  Software that others have used and approve of may be just what you need.  When looking at reviews, consider how well those reviews answer your questions of how well it works.  For many people, software like this is the ideal way to manage their financial success but only if the software will deliver the top results required.

Investment software for professionals is quite different from those programs designed for individuals.  Yet, many individuals will benefit from using those tools themselves.  Take the time to look into all of your options and determine which software meets your goals.  Often times, investing in high priced software with extra features and details will not yield the same results for you as you believe and therefore may not be the best choice.  After considering the features offered by the software, make your decision on which investment software to choose based on the reviews you’ve seen, your budget and the types of investments you wish to manage through the software.

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