Conference nyoss1::market_investing

    Hi,
    
    Well it's been a year and i was wondering if anyone was using this
    package as well???  Is this a redundent software package when compared 
    to something like Fidelities FOX and Schwab's StreetSmart Software???
    
    Thanks,
    
    		Doug 

Maybe I'm a contrarian, but I use and like Wealthbuilder.  I just got
the updated Macintosh version that has historical price graphs and user-defined
filtering.  If you like to do your own picking, it seems to be a good tool.
If you want a program that will simply spit out Buy and Sell orders, it does
not do that.

I don't use it for personal financial tracking (I use Quicken for that).
However, for picking and tracking investments, it has paid for itself several
times over.

I haven't used any of the "high powered" (expensive) programs mentioned
in this notes file, but Wealthbuilder is reliable and is not too
expensive.  It is easy to use, with good tutorial help and a decent manual.

I have the "Platinum" service, which allows unlimited quote updates on stocks,
mutual funds, bonds, CDs, calls and puts.  For the $29.95 monthly fee, I can
also get historical data on 10 investments.  Historical data is presented as
price (open/close/high/low) volume and relative strength (within market
segment) daily for 100 days and weekly for 52 weeks.  A 50 day moving average
is also plotted as part of the historical data.

The database (updated monthly, on-line) of all stocks, mutuals, etc, allows you
to plot ROI on a monthly basis (last 12 months) and annual ROI for the last 10
years.  You can sort and filter by any combination of metric (there are about
20 metrics for each stock).  Every investment has a "report card" that you
can look at or print out when you are getting close to making a Buy decision.
It takes about an hour a month at 2400 baud to download the database updates,
to give you an idea of the amount of information being sent.

I use it almost every day to track my investments (especially DEC stock call
options).  I use it to double-check the advice I get from my broker and also
have made a few good picks by using its filtering and sorting to narrow in on
upward-bound investments.

-steve-

>I haven't used any of the "high powered" (expensive) programs mentioned
>in this notes file, but Wealthbuilder is reliable and is not too
>expensive.  It is easy to use, with good tutorial help and a decent manual.
>
>I have the "Platinum" service, which allows unlimited quote updates on stocks,
>mutual funds, bonds, CDs, calls and puts.  For the $29.95 monthly fee, 

     Does your use of this program provide you with at least an additional 
$360/year of income to pay for itself?

>     Does your use of this program provide you with at least an additional 
>$360/year of income to pay for itself?

I think so.  That's just a one-and-five-eighths point nudge on a single
trade of 300 shares, easily possible given the additional timing
information you get from being able to track stock prices continuously and
download 100-day and 52-week historical graphs.

Although I don't know what I would have done in the absence of this information,
I feel that I am picking up a few extra points here and there because of it,
and that the information has paid for itself a few times over.  You do have to
use it regularly to make it worthwhile.

I also like it because it runs on the Macintosh, not just the PC.  People
on PCs probably have a much wider variety of packages to choose from.

-steve-

RE: .2

  I don't use it for personal financial tracking (I use Quicken for that).
  However, for picking and tracking investments, it has paid for itself several
  times over.

Steve,

How much of an overlap is there between Quicken's portfolio management 
features and those found on Wealthbuilder?  Can you download personal 
portfolio information from Quicken to Wealthbuilder?

In general:

Anyways, I started using Wealthbuilder about 6 months ago, and I'm a
big fan also.  I haven't hooked up either of the on-line services yet 
(but planning to, though just for mutual funds).  The financial 
planning features (i.e. recommended asset allocation) and research 
capabilities are great.

--Glenn--

    i'm running Quicken and love it's capability of tracking all of my
    Finances...i thought about picking up Wealthbuilder, but then thought
    better of it because of Quickens investment tracking capabilities...
    
    What does Wealthbuilder bring to the table that Quicken doesn't have???
    Is it a better tool for tracking stocks you don't own (to avoid
    messing up your net worth charting in Quicken)???
    
    Wondering,
    		Doug  

RE: .6

>>    What does Wealthbuilder bring to the table that Quicken doesn't have???

They're two different applications that have portfolio management as 
a common feature.

Wealthbuilder is a "financial advisor" tool.  As input, you give it
your current financial status, your future goals, and your tolerance 
for risk.  As output, it gives you first an indication of whether 
your goals are feasible, and then an recommended asset allocation
strategy, along with research capabilities to help you select specific 
investments to make in order to achieve those goals.

One thing that I think Quicken provides (please correct me if I'm wrong)
that Wealthbuilder doesn't is a "feed" into the various tax preparation 
packages.  It probably makes that Schedule D a lot easier to deal with.

>>    Is it a better tool for tracking stocks you don't own (to avoid
>>    messing up your net worth charting in Quicken)???

From the literature that Reality Technologies provides (I haven't tried
it myself yet), their on-line service provides you with performance data 
for mutual funds, stocks, and bonds.  I don't know if Intuit provides a
similar service for Quicken.

IMHO:  from what information I gather, the two tools could compliment 
each other nicely, if there were more data shared between the two.  I 
submitted a question previously, asking if portfolio data was shared, 
because it's redundant to enter portfolio data into both.

Hope this helps...

--Glenn--

WealthBuilder V3.1 provides 

	o update prices as often an you like
	o research databases (stocks, bonds, cds, mm, mutuals) with screens
	o access to discount brokerages (PCFN & E-trade I think).
	o investment alerts
	o download of investment articles and news clipping service
	o modeled portfolios (not considered in asset alloc or net worth)
	o risk profile
	o assest allocation analysis and recommendations, including 
	  purchase strategy, for both taxable and non-taxable investments
	o trial subscriptions to many newsletters by electronic mail
	o financial dictionary and guide

Overall I find it fairly comprehensive and easy to use.

MS