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Thursday, September 13, 2018

Personal Financial Planning: A "How-To" Guide (part 6)




Technology in Financial Planning
by
Charles Lamson

As they have in so many other aspects of our lives, personal computers (PCs) and the Internet have found their way into financial planning. Indeed, financial planning is a natural application of the PC. What better way is there to handle all the number crunching involved in budgeting, tax planning, and investment management? There are many reasonably priced, "user-friendly" programs available for personal financial planning and money management, including the popular Quicken and Microsoft Money packages.

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The Internet puts a wealth of financial information literally at your fingertips. To help you find useful online resources, every chapter of Personal Financial Planning includes numerous "smart.sites," links to relevant financial planning Web sites and I have included them here in this blog. Also I will share with you, the Money Online feature Gitman & Joehnk put at the end of each chapter that describes related Web sites and includes companion exercises to help you effectively use the Web in financial planning. By bookmarking (saving) these sites, you will build up a valuable library of personal financial Web sites.

Where applicable, I will point out ways to use the computer and Internet to simplify and reduce the time required to manage your personal finances. As a start, check out the general personal finance sites described in the Money in Action box that follows.

Money in Action
Financial Portals Open the Door to Online Information
With thousands of personal financial Web sites crowding the Internet, such an overabundance of online information can be intimidating. However, don’t let that stop you, because no matter how much you know---or don’t know---about personal finance and investing, the Web is a research tool without equal, and many worthwhile sites are free.

Of the many sites competing to be your Web gateway to the Internet’s educational riches, financial portals are an ideal starting place for the beginner. They are jam-packed with financial information---from personal-finance tasks such as paying bills online, shopping for a mortgage, or estimating taxes---to investment essentials such as stock quotes, online portfolio tracking, investment research, and news. Some also provide weather updates, a personal calender, and an address book. Some comprehensive sites that consistently get rave reviews are Yahoo! Finance (www.finance.yahoo.com), MoneyCentral (www.moneycentral.msn.com), and Intuit’s Quicken.com (www.quicken.com). Each has a slightly different look, emphasis, and organizational scheme. Evaluate their unique features to find the one that best suits your needs.

Yahoo! Finance: This site provides fast access to financial data such as stock quotes, company profiles, and breaking news stories from the opening screen. An easily customized home page allows you to delete any content you don’t want, other sites aren’t as flexible. Among the options available for viewing the homepage is one that calls up recent headlines for each of your stock holdings. Extensive message boards are available for investor discussions, free online bill-paying services are also available, as are links to many personal finance resources, from online credit report agencies to tax preparation sites.

MSN MoneyCentral: This site places more emphasis on articles, tools, and step-by-step guides for investor education. It offers a wide range of sophisticated, interactive tools such as stock screening and chatting capabilities, plus investment research. It provides access to online brokers and a customizable portfolio you can synchronize with your e-brokerage account. The Research Wizard provides market data and explains why it is important. Other features include a bill paying capability, online tax preparation, and free email.

Quicken.com: You’ll find broad coverage and consistency of personal finance topics at this site. It is a fully customizable site with features for tracking personal spending and bill paying. Each area---brokerage, taxes, home mortgages, small business, banking, and insurance---has its own bulletin boards, reference materials, and advice. Using the latest version of Quicken, you can connect with more than 1,000 financial institutions for additional services.

*SOURCE: PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING, 10TH ED., 2005, LAWRENCE J. GITMAN, MICHAEL D. JOENHK, PGS. 23-25*

END

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