Great data visualization tools and usable financial advice
Written: Dec 12 '00
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Pros: Excellent worksheets & tools, action-oriented up-to-date financial articles
Cons: Can't think of any
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| coldcash's Full Review: SmartMoney |
The site is extremely helpful because the financial articles they write are really action-oriented; they don't just give a market update like most news and other financial sites do, they actually tell you what this means to you, as an investor, and what you can do with the information. Plus, they post new articles several times a day (as the market changes) so I keep coming back to the site during the day to find out what else I can do with the latest news to help enhance my portfolio.
I have been on the web for numerous years and very few sites these days impress me at all -- till I encountered SmartMoney.com's site. In particular, their data visualization interactive Java tools blow all the other personal finance sites away.
For example, the Map of the Market applet allows people to get a bird's eye view of virtually the entire stock market. This applet is fully interactive and users can click on the various colored rectangles (green = stock price went up, red = stock price went down, size of rectangle = market cap), each representing a company stock (e.g. Intel, Microsoft, etc.) to get stock quotes, charts, insider trading information, latest news on that company, financial statements, analyst ratings, etc. by simply clicking on it. The applet is also customizable to a good extent.
Their Mutual Fund Map is like Map of the Market, only with mutual funds. I really like this applet because there are SO many funds to choose from, and this tool allows you to see--in a glance--practically the entire landscape of the mutual fund market. It is grouped by fund family (e.g. Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.) or fund category (e.g. value, foreign, growth, etc.). Depending on your criteria, all you may need to do in looking for a fund to put your money in is to look for large green rectangles and you're good to go!
More on mutual funds...their Fund Snapshot is the absolute best tool out there. I particularly like a couple of features in the Fund Snapshot tool: the "overlap meter" which allows you to compare 2 funds you might be holding (or thinking of holding) and find out what stocks overlap in the funds' holdings. The "risk & reward" chart is also very helpful in giving an investor ideas of other like funds to choose as alternatives. The "take note" tab shows you a wealth of other wonderful nuggets of information for the thorough investor-researcher.
The worksheets (e.g. capital gains tax estimator, mortgage calculator, auto leasing worksheet, etc.) are fabulous too...you can type in values and the answer shows up AS YOU TYPE...no need to click the "submit" button and go "back" to change the numbers...you can play around as you go and find the best scenario that works for you without spending too much time submitting and re-submitting different values each time.
From the worksheets to these Map applets, AND the great financial articles, an investor (both beginner and advanced) cannot help but feel like he or she has learned something that can be used IMMEDIATELY after visiting SmartMoney.com's web site. I highly recommend it.
Recommended:
Yes
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coldcash
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