Google Finance - Free Investing Tools Anyone Can Use - Free Investing Tools Anyone Can Use

For years now Google has helped fuel the growth of its brand by offering users a variety of interactive tools. These tools are normally offered at no charge and give considerable value especially to those who used to pay for programs such as Analytics. This article takes a look at Google Finance (GF), yet another web-based application developed and presented for use by the world's largest online search engine.

Launched in 2006, GF publishes headlines, news and financial information for a large number of corporations. Like similar products produced by other online companies, GF offers stock quotations, currency quotations, bond information, and sector financial data.

There is also a trend section. GF collects and publishes relevant financial news from other Google portals, like Google Blog Search and Google News. The individual reader often has to shift through sometimes irrelevant information to gain the type of financial news they find personally newsworthy but it is easy to set up personalized options.

Portfolio Building - The Real Value in GF

Perhaps the most interesting and important feature for the individual investor is the highly customizable portfolio section. This allows you to build a personal portfolio that can access 40 years of historical information about stocks. It also delivers the latest relevant news and prices for your stocks.

Your personal portfolio can track your transactions and can be downloaded to a spreadsheet or in a format compatible with financial software like Intuit's Quicken. The portfolio options are rich and robust. Real time ticker updates are available, resulting from Google's partnering with both NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange.

Another useful feature you will find is called the Stock Screener. This tool allows you to search for stocks (currently US stocks only) by identifying specific criteria which you are interested in. This type of search feature generally produced more specific results than simply searching by text. You can use the default settings or customize the search settings to hone in on stocks within your area of interest.

A great tool at a great price

GF certainly has enough financial and up-to-date data that casual investor probably does not need anything more detailed for his daily use. And best of all it is free to the user.

Just sign into your Google account or create one to gain current and relevant national and personalized financial information. Try it with Google's Chrome browser which has been optimized for complimentary applications like Java and Flash. Your information will fly back to you at browser speeds that may surprise you.

Using free web based tools such as these are terrific for staying informed, but most people still prefer to work with an investment advisor for making important decisions. If you live in southern Louisiana and are seeking personal financial advice call FBT Investments and speak to one of their highly trained advisors.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andre_Savoie.

Personal Finance - Three Simple Steps to Improve Your Financial Literacy

Many people today place money with financial analysts, fund managers and experts in the hope that they can grow their funds. However studies have shown that in the vast majority of cases, the individual generates the same return as the experts. But most people when confronted with this fact, usually reply that they do not know how best to invest their money themselves and it is submitted that the real reason is a lack of financial literacy.

So the usual question is how someone can increase his financial literacy? This article will therefore list three simple ways for anyone to start increasing their financial literacy.

Firstly, the best way to start is to start browsing an online investing dictionary and start learning simple financial jargon. A great place that you can consider is http://www.investopedia.com where you can start learning the meaning of basic financial terms so as to be better able to understand financial literature. You would want to spend some effort in learning those pertaining to the stock market first because such terms are most commonly used in the papers when financial analysts talk about the state of the economy.

How to Buy High Net Worth Home Insurance

Do you live in a high value house, perhaps have a holiday home too or maybe you have high value contents, such as some fine art or expensive jewellery? Perhaps your house or belongings are simply not 'standard'. If so, you'll need to know how to buy high net worth home insurance.

There is so much advertising and general focus on price comparison websites offering that many consider these as the only route to buy home insurance. For those with 'standard' requirements they may well be a good option.

For non-standard insurance needs though, this is unlikely to be the case - insurers are unlikely to quote online for anything out of the ordinary.

There Is No Quick Fix to Making Money

In this age and times, it is surprising that there are still people who wake up daily hoping to get a "big break" through some get-rich-quick scheme to improve their lots. Are you one of such people? Maybe you too have placed your affairs in the hands of fate and are waiting for that glorious day when it will all come through for you as it has done for others in fairy tales.

Well, here is some sad news for you. The big break you are waiting for may never come. You may end up disappointed as millions of others have before you. The good news is you don't need fate to help you. All you need is to follow "the process" to make your dreams come true. Money making is a process. It leaves clues for anyone who cares to follow. These are the clues you need and not some lucky break. These are the clues that those who are making money follow and they keep making more money. That is why they keep getting richer while those who are waiting for quick fixes keep getting poorer.

Gambling, shooting the lottery and making money "other ways" are transient, illusory and unsustainable. These are quick fixes which could lead you to sure destruction. Therefore, that is not the best way to go. You must have something to offer in exchange for money. That is the only time-tested and best way to make money. That "something" can either be your time, your service or your product. If you have nothing to sell or exchange for money and you continue to dream of quick fixes, you will forever remain poor. I contend that there is nobody in this planet today even if such a person is physically challenged who has not got something to offer no matter how seemingly little that "something" is. That is the uniqueness of life which our all-knowing and benevolent Creator has taken care of eons ago.

Personal Finance 101 Online Investment Ideas

There are a variety of advantages when you will decide to invest online. And here is a hint: the more often you invest, the more investors you'll see over the internet. With the use of an online broker, you can deal with your personal finance correctly.

Online investment is a second term for self-direct investment. It's become the business model for financiers and dealers in the last years. A lot of the online traders provide specific platforms for trading. The platforms enable electronic trading to be executed by internet surfers from anywhere in the earth. On the whole, electronic trading platforms demonstrate live trade prices which can be helpful to the users. Furthermore, it also offers market tools say for example a chart package, news feed and financial management. They are produced to enable individuals to get fiscal markets.

In the environment of finance, an electronic trading platform is software which usually can be used to place requests for fiscal merchandise over a system called financial intermediary. Financial intermediary is a second word for market designers, traders, brokers, stock markets and investment banks. They furnish probably the most financial products just like stocks, currencies, shares, derivatives and also commodities.

The Importance of Learning About Personal Finance

There are a number of different reasons as to why a person should learn about personal finance, but it is perhaps understandable that most people can not see these reasons for themselves. Personal finance is a difficult topic to learn about and for that reason a person just naturally tends to shy away from it, making excuses in an attempt to avoid having to learn about it. Well, personal finance is extremely important and here are some reasons why.

Money Flow

If you understand personal finance, then you will understand your money flow a lot better. There are a number of people that muddle through life paying their bills and their mortgage payment with the money that they have and then spending the rest of it or maybe letting it sit in their bank account. These are people that have no idea how personal finance works, so even if they end up making the right decisions they are doing it through luck.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with this particular approach, don't you think that you would feel much better if you knew exactly what was going on with your money flow? The old saying is that knowledge is power and if you know about your money flow, you arguably have the most important individual power that exists in the world today.

6 Smart Ways To Prepare For Natural Disasters

In times past, natural disasters were few and far between. Not anymore. These days, natural disasters do not only occur more frequently, they are more devastating in their scope of destruction. There is virtually no country in the world that is immune. We no longer doubt if disasters will occur. We now expect them to and wonder where next? These disasters can manifest in form of earthquakes, tornadoes, wild fires, floods and tsunamis. What they all have in common if and whenever they occur is widespread destruction to lives and properties.

In 2012 alone, many Americans have been hit by the Colorado wild fires, tropical storm Debby and a record heat wave. Mother Nature's fury has been visited on many other countries quite a bit this year. As I write this, Filipinos are just recovering from devastating floods while in-coming reports have it that Iran has been hit by a strong earthquake. There is hardly any week now that one natural disaster or the other will not occur somewhere in the world. Because we can not stop natural disasters, we can at best prepare very well for them. If scientists are to be believed, we should all brace up for more disasters in the years ahead. Even though an earthquake, fire or a flood may not have destroyed your home yet, you can not be sure whether the very next one will not hit your area. Because of that, it is very important to plan for how you can protect yourself, your family and your properties. Here are some of the smartest ways you can prepare for an event you hope will never happen.

01. Subscribe to electronic channels for weather reports/news/forecasts.
Instead of watching or listening to sports and music most of the time, it is good to subscribe to other channels that forecast weather and climate changes. In the news section, you will always hear or watch what happens elsewhere when natural disasters occur and how the people cope with them. That way, you can equip yourself with relevant information about what to do when such disasters occur in your own area. Some disasters like storms and tornadoes can be predicted through weather forecasts. These forecasts usually give people sufficient time to prepare to batten down or to evacuate. Some of the news bulletins are at times inclusive of tips about what to do and how to cope with an in-coming disaster.

02. Take stock of what you own.
Some disasters like wild fires and floods are capable if destroying very many documents beyond recovery. For that reason, it is prudent to take a detailed documented stock of all your valuable items for safe keeping in fire-proof cabinets or even bank vaults where such banking services can be obtained. If your property is damaged or lost, the more proof of ownership you have, the better at least for insurance claims. Try to stack the receipts for high-value items and other valuables in your home for safe keeping. Pictures, video recordings of your home and other valuable properties can also be made in advance and kept in safe places. These precautions come in handy at the stage of insurance claims when disasters do occur.