Creating a Stock Portfolio Using Personal Finance Websites

One of the most common mistakes investors make is losing track of their investments. If you have several stock holdings - more than three, for example - then you will want to keep track of those stocks as efficiently as possible. The easiest way to do this is by creating a stock portfolio with a personal finance website.

Several years ago, the only way one could create a stock portfolio to track stocks was to manually manage a spreadsheet either on the computer or by longhand. Today, however, you can also create a stock portfolio by using personal finance website programs, which are much easier for rookie investors. Zacks, MSN Money, Yahoo! Finance and Quicken all have user-friendly personal finance website programs with which to create a stock portfolio.

To choose how you want to track your stocks, look at several of the programs available. If you use a particular personal finance website to look up the numbers on a regular basis, you might want to use the stock portfolio option provided by that website, if available. That way, you won't have to jump from website-to-website in order to track your stocks each day.

Creating a stock portfolio using a personal finance website will allow you to:

(1) Track Your Stocks from Day-to-Day

Personal finance website programs allow you to track your stocks on a day-to-day basis. Not only will you be able to see where your stocks are at a particular moment in time, but also how those numbers compare to yesterday, last week and even last year. You'll be able to assess your stock portfolio over a long period of time, which will allow you to make more informed decisions.

(2) Access Each Stock Profile

Most personal finance websites have a hyperlink attached to the ticker symbol for each stock. When you click that link, it takes you directly to the company profile for that stock. From there, you can access press releases, news, quotes and other pertinent information about your stocks.

(3) Easily Edit Your Stock Page

When you sell or buy stock and you use a complicated spreadsheet program, it can take all day to edit your stock portfolio. Using a personal finance website program, however, makes it much easier. You can usually edit the stocks in your chart simply by pointing and clicking, which leaves you time to accomplish other tasks during the day.

(4) Enjoy Greater Versatility

Personal finance website programs allow you to organize your stocks in any way you see fit. If you prefer your ticker symbol to be in alphabetical order, then you can choose that option. You can also create categories if you are managing a large stock portfolio.