Some people want to create a custom investment portfolio by themselves. Other people may want to do it easily without curating every meticulous detail. This is when portfolio websites come into play, but how do you know which to choose? These are top features your portfolio website needs to get the job done.
A Number of Portfolios
Every site should offer a different number of portfolios that can be stored. For investors, the differences will not be an issue since some users can have dozens of investment portfolios that are easy to access. You may want a separate portfolio for ETFs and one for stocks. No site should make you consolidate all of your portfolios into one! Be sure to check exactly how many you can have before you join.
Securities Handled
Portfolio websites need a robust software-based program that handles several types of securities. Many online programs are simply designed to track cash, stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds. Granted these are some of the most popular assets, but it’s good to have a number of securities tracked including bonds and options. With several securities being followed, your portfolio website encourages you to invest in a broad range of assets to decrease the amount of risk substantially.
Frequent Updates
What’s the point of using a site to help you track your assets if it doesn’t update regularly? Online portfolio website trackers initially required users to manually refresh the page to update pricing and market values for their holdings, but this isn’t always the case anymore. Many sites have made the transition to dynamic updates that are available real time without refreshing.
Email Alerts and News
The best part of using a portfolio website is the fact that many have email alerts and news that let you know price movements when you need to know most. You should find a site that offers alerts that notify you when there’s a change in an asset whether it’s a massive drop or a huge jump. These updates can be essential to your investment portfolio.
Additional Analysis Tools
Unless you’re experienced in creating a portfolio, you may need more assistance. The availability of additional portfolio analysis tools should be one of your top priorities. Most people can learn from a little more support, and portfolio websites are usually more than happy to teach you how to use the tools implemented on the site. Not only can they help you break down your portfolio regarding sectors, asset classes, and industry when it’s crucial, but they can also help you compare your portfolio.
Simplicity of Use
You never want to pick a portfolio website that’s difficult to use. First of all, it may make it difficult to create a good portfolio that will do its job—mitigate risk. You may not realize that you’re increasing your risk when you’re attempting to decrease it. Second, a difficult-to-use portfolio website may even deter you from investing.
