New Investment Analyzer Tool

[Carnage]

Caught this on lifehacker.com and thought I'd share it. I haven't checked it out myself, but thought I'd give everyone a new tool to play with :

https://futureadvisor.com/main

Personalized retirement analysis and recommendations based on your portfolio.

 

[Finance Dave]

Caught this on lifehacker.com and thought I'd share it. I haven't checked it out myself, but thought I'd give everyone a new tool to play with :

https://futureadvisor.com/main

Personalized retirement analysis and recommendations based on your portfolio.

I first got a screen saying I had to provide an email address...I don't like giving that out easily. So I reloaded, then I got a timeout error.

 

[Sarah in SC]

Carnage, let us know how the tool works for you. Thanks!

 

[RonBoyd]

I have no problem giving out my e-mail address... since it is required for access by most websites. Anyway, this is an extremely slooow Site -- although it does mention "Beta" very prominently. The first screen after logging in asks four basic questions:

1. Current Age
2. Age you expect to Retire
3. Current Income.
4. Income desired after Retirement. (Silly them... they default to 80% of Current Income.)

The second page stopped me, however. They ask to download your Brokerage Account information. (They do go into a long explanation of how that doesn't represent a security risk -- true, but should cause some hesitancy before blindly going forward.) In any event, I was stopped because there are only three Brokerage choices: Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab. I do not have an account at any one of these so couldn't proceed.

FWIW, as to the extreme slowness; when I tried to go back a page to write this post, it took forever and finally timed out requiring me to start for the OPs Link again.

 

[Carnage]

I have no problem giving out my e-mail address... since it is required for access by most websites. Anyway, this is an extremely slooow Site -- although it does mention "Beta" very prominently. The first screen after logging in asks four basic questions:

1. Current Age
2. Age you expect to Retire
3. Current Income.
4. Income desired after Retirement. (Silly them... they default to 80% of Current Income.)

The second page stopped me, however. They ask to download your Brokerage Account information. (They do go into a long explanation of how that doesn't represent a security risk -- true, but should cause some hesitancy before blindly going forward.) In any event, I was stopped because there are only three Brokerage choices: Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab. I do not have an account at any one of these so couldn't proceed.

FWIW, as to the extreme slowness; when I tried to go back a page to write this post, it took forever and finally timed out requiring me to start for the OPs Link again.

Looks like the creator of the website left some comments at Lifehacker.com. They're going to allow people to enter their investments. I too do not feel comfortable giving out my brokerage logon information.

 

[RonBoyd]

It does seem like a good "idea" though. This from their BLOG page (FutureAdvisor Blog - Personalized, data-driven investment advice for the individual investor):

Considering buying more shares of that mutual fund you bought last week? FutureAdvisor will tell you if there are less expensive funds (both Mutual Fund and ETF options) that have very similar goals or holdings, and show you how much you'll save.

Wondering if you're saving enough for retirement? FutureAdvisor will do the math for you, and show whether you're on pace for your goals. What's better, instead of asking you how much you're currently saving (cause c'mon, how many people really know?), we will look at the historical contributions to your 401(k) plan to project using real data.

Wondering how you should set your 401(k) plan contributions? FutureAdvisor will look through your company's 401(k) plan options to recommend the best funds for you, given your current asset allocation and what your plan offers. If we can't because don't have data on your company's plan, we'll ask for your permission to request a brochure from them so we can.

We're still a very early beta product, but we're getting closer every day to being that know-it-all analyst [1] standing sitting at your kitchen table. You know, the one everyone wishes they had [2].

- The FutureAdvisor team

[1] Except without the suit.
[2] Okay, maybe not everyone. But when I was a teenager and just starting to figure out this whole investing thing, I thought it'd be really cool to have a finance analyst in my room to whom I could ask all my nagging questions. But instead, I had to settle for the library.

I wish them well.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Thanks for the details, Ron. Scares the socks off of me. Good reminder to be careful with personal data.

Their comment about having someone in your kitchen looking over your full financial situation is true and I highly valued having that at age 23 BUT I knew and trusted my broker.

 

[RonBoyd]

They're going to allow people to enter their investments.

Then, I have no objections to the use of this site other than the technical one (Too darn slow).

I too do not feel comfortable giving out my brokerage logon information.

I don't, neccessarly, have a problem with that -- it is SOP for those kinds of analyzers --I simply meant that one should build up some degree of trust (you decide) for the individual(s) on the other end before jumping in. But that is just me... I waited two years before using Yahoo.com and Amazon.com for the first time (I stilll don't trust e-bay completely and PayPal will never hit my "go ahead and use" list.)