Investing Resources for the Thrifty Investor:

We have noticed a few inquiries from members regarding good (and free) resources that can be used to help keep investors on top of their game. We thought it may be helpful if we compiled a short list of some free resources that could be useful. It’s nothing groundbreaking or ‘out there’ but we hope you get some value from it:

Google Finance:

Google finance is a simple, no frills tool that provides general market and business related news and allows you to find recent quotes on stocks of interest. If you have a gMail account, you are able to add your portfolio of investments for tracking and can even export the data to Excel if you would like a backup.

Pros:

• Aggregates news stories/releases that are related to companies in your portfolio or that you have recently searched
• Creating and adjusting your portfolio holdings is simple and easy to navigate
• The charting has a handy tool that shows where on the stock chart a particular news event occurred

Cons:

• Specific stock data such as ratios or other types of analyses are limited, likely as a means to keep the interface simple

Yahoo! Finance:

Yahoo! provides a similar service to Google where you can get various news items and specific stock information. If you have a Yahoo! e-mail account you gain access to the portfolio tracking tool. The portfolio interface (we feel) is a bit more cumbersome than Google’s but the data and statistics you get are much better. With that said, not every metric shown is accurate but that goes for most free sites that provide similar services.

Pros:

• More detailed data/information compared to Google Finance
• Aggregates current news stories related to the markets and investing
• Allows the export of historical share prices to Excel which can come in handy

Cons:

• Not as simple as Google Finance

Canada Newswire (CNW Group):

CNW provides a basic and well organized list of press releases. Similar to the above two services, you can easily create an account which allows you to track a ‘portfolio’ of companies and industries you wish to follow. This helps to focus the press releases on items of interest. Although we are not familiar with it, it appears they have a mobile application which could be worth a look.

Pros:

• Simple layout
• Some customization to personal tastes is allowed

Cons:

• Mainly press releases

Canadian Insider:

This website allows you to search for a stock of interest and view recent insider filings. The information is limited unless you subscribe but still useful without the subscription. They also provide a top 5 list of insider buys and sells on the main page which can be interesting.

Pros:

• Provides information that you don’t see in regular news stories or press releases

Cons:

• Making an account is burdensome as they require a mailing address

YCharts:

YCharts is a subscription service but there are some tools they offer for free that are quite handy. They have a stock screener that is pretty good and the charts are easy to use for comparing to indices or other investments. The most interesting tool, we think, is the various economic indicators they provide.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Offer some resources/information that are difficult to find for free

Cons:

• Subscription service for full access