There are many web portals offering basic financial information, as well as sites dedicated to financial information. While I do use a few websites for financial information, Yahoo Finance is my primary source of information.

Similar to its search and other features you will find at Yahoo, Yahoo Finance emphasizes on functions and usability, rather than flashy features that are hard to use. It is quite amazing the amount of information that Yahoo Finance is able to provide on each page, and yet it is still extremely easy to take a quick glance and capture all the information you are looking for.

Full Featured
-Investment
I won't go through the list of features Yahoo Finance has, as it would be way to long to list them out and explain each of them. It is sufficient to say that Yahoo Finance provides information for just about any types of investments. Like any financial websites, Yahoo Finance provides quotes, market overview, news for each stock, and major headlines. It had also added quotes for stock options since year 2000.

- Personal Finance
Yahoo Finance provides services such as electronic payment, fund transfer, and "PayDirect," which is a service similar to PayPal that allows a user to e-mail money to another user. These are just the major ones. It also has tax services provided through third parties, as well as insurance for auto, housing, and life, and so on. Again, it is very overwhelming to explain each one in detail, but in my experience using services through Yahoo Finance, the quality of these services is very high regardless of its Yahoo Finance's own services or through a third party. Yahoo Finance has integrated its wide array of capabilities very well.

My point with "Investment" and "Personal Finance" is really that Yahoo Finance is comprehensive, and those features would put Yahoo Finance above most other financial sites. Those are just examples. I would suggest anyone to check it out by going to Yahoo.com and click on finance.

However, there is more.

Fast
Yahoo Finance loads incredibly fast. It is quite amazing how fast Yahoo Finance loads. It is almost instantaneous if you have a broadband connection. While most financial sites are reasonably fast, Yahoo Finance is simply faster. I actually did not realize the significance of this difference until I am writing this review. Part of the reason I keep going back to using Yahoo Finance is I am somewhat annoyed by slower responsiveness with other financial sites, even though they are not that slow, and when I was thinking about writing this review, I realized I have been spoiled by Yahoo Finance's speed. This is something that you get used to and take for granted until you go to other sites.

Easy to Use
Usability is an interesting thing. It is obvious and yet difficult to do at the same time. Yahoo Finance crams so much information and yet it is very easy to use, and just about everything is only one-click away from the main page. Its design is also intuitive. Even though there is so much information, I have never had trouble locating what I am looking for quickly on any of the pages at Yahoo Finance. The learning curve is extremely low. While there are some other financial sites that offer similar functions, when I want to do something I have not done before, it often takes a bit digging to figure out how to do something. This is not the case with Yahoo Finance. I find everything to be plain and simple at Yahoo Finance, even for tasks or information I am trying to get to for the first me. This applies to the services Yahoo Finance provides as well. Either I am very used to Yahoo and its design in general, or Yahoo Finance is extremely well put together.

To Be Improved
I have to say that Yahoo Finance does not manage portfolio (real or imaginary) as well as some other financial sites, such as www.MoneyCentral.com. For example, it does not have the ability to chart portfolio values over time, as well as return on investment the way MoneyCentral does I would consider this area to be quite useful and still am somewhat surprised by the fact that it is not beefed up after such a long time.

Finally...
I would recommend Yahoo Finance wholeheartedly to anyone looking for financial information. The site is comprehensive, easy to use, and fast loading. It is also quite suitable for both novice and those who heavily manage their own finance. If it were not for the lack of more advanced portfolio management, I would give Yahoo Finance five starts instead of four.

Try it for a couple of days. You will be hooked.


Recommended: Yes