Source: Mint, June 11, 2010, by B Y S AURABH K UMAR & B INDISHA S ARANG
············· D ············ avid Allen, famous productivity guru and author of Getting Things Done, says in his book, “(in today's time) Old models and habits are insufficient...in today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work.“ Like we all know, times have changed dramatically and so have our lifestyles and invest- ment decisions.
What was luxury once (hack- neyed but true examples: tele- vision and refrigerator) is a ne- cessity now. Similarly, invest- ments unheard of then have now become part of house- holds' budget. A person in the 1980s or 1990s had a savings bank account, insurance, bank fixed deposits and, at the most, bonds. Add to the list some mutual funds, stocks, credit cards, and Internet and mobile banking, and you will get a typical investment profile of today's generation.
But along with new invest- ment avenues come multiple bills and statements, due dates, login IDs and pass- words. To shuffle these and put them in order, month after month, may be a trifle tough.Your options: swap the mess with a single login and pass- word and let technology sort it out for you. Financial tools are meant to do exactly that.How do financial tools help Usually, online tools provide a common platform where you can view all your ac- counts--banks, credit cards, insurance, fixed deposits and even Public Provident Fund.This facility is also known as account aggregation.
You can even monitor your investments in stocks and mu- tual funds since the tools up- date the prices every day.Based on your information, some of them even compute your income-tax.
One of the most useful fea- tures of financial tools is that they give you a window to ana- lyse your income and expenses and help you understand your spending pattern. Says Banga- lore-based certified financial planner, B. Srinivasan, “These tools help disciplining people.Using the tool makes them aware about their spending pattern and understand their financial liability. Moreover, late payments are common and the reminder tool works wonders.“
You can even find tips on fi- nancial planning. We review a few tools you can use.Online help Trackspends.com: Back from a holiday you realize you have exceeded your budget. Since you were carrying some cash along, a sudden panic gripped you--did you really overspent or lost the money somewhere?But if you are registered with Trackspends.com, you won't have to go through such con- flicting emotions. You would know exactly how much you spent, where and on what.
While on the trip, just an SMS on how much your dinner or the souvenir cost you would do the job for you. Once you are back, log on and find each detail sorted out.
Feed in your cellphone number on the website, which provides its own number where you can SMS. You have the option of registering more than one number. You can even update the details by log- ging in on the site.
To sort out your expenses, you can create categories, such as food and shopping, and can modify them as and when you need to do so.
The registration process is easy and the website is user- friendly. Also, the service comes free of cost. The process is safe and you need not di- vulge your personal details, such as bank account or credit card number.
Overall the experience can be termed satisfactory.
Trackeverycoin.com: While window-shopping, you came across a beautiful painting, something of the kind you al- ways wanted for your living room. Unfortunately, you spot another couple eying it and you don't remember how much disposable money you have. If you have a GPRS-ena- bled phone and are on Track- everycoin.com, the decision whether you can afford the painting right then would be just a few minutes away.
The application can be downloaded on your phone, where you can keep updating your income and expenses. This way you would know exactly how much you can spend at any point in time. The website also offers a hardware device called TECI, which can be attached to any computer through a USB and the data can be synchro- nized with the website.
The site also gives you the option to set reminders for any financial commitments you may have. Intuitindia.com: This India- dedicated website was launched recently by US-based Intuit Inc. The site offers you a free 90-day trial, after which you are required to pay Re1 a day. This website requires you to link your bank account and other details for automatic up- dates as and when any trans- action takes place. It also of- fers you regular features of managing different expenses under different categories and keeps track of your expense patterns.
Through this, too, you can plan your budget.
The site looks very organized and well-managed, but many wouldn't want to pay a fee for the services that they can get free of cost otherwise.
However, it has a feature that is unique to it. The site allows you to track your taxes.the website lets you know how much liability you have after making all the investments.Since the latest tax rules of the income-tax department is up- loaded on it, you can plan your tax-saving investments ac- cordingly.Desktop applications Some users would rather not share information with a website. If you are one of them, here's a solution for you.
Some companies offer desk- top downloads that work as good money managers.
These are safer than web- sites, but may be less savvy and more cumbersome to use than online tools since most of the data you would have to feed most of the data manually.
Mprofit.in: A personal desk- top portfolio management software for Indian retail in- vestors and non-resident In- dians, it allows you to be in control of your investments, such as stocks, funds, insur- ance policies, property, gold and other asset classes. Since all your financial data is saved locally on your computer, it's safe. You can update your mu- tual fund and stock prices as and when you choose to. You can even create a group port- folio for your entire family.
What we like about this site is that you can get the desktop download at just Rs1,499 per year. Moreover, its founder is a known name in online busi- ness, since he founded Shaa- di.com, too.What to do?
While most sites are free, some are very cheap. The desktop download sites usually charge more than online ones.
Since every tool's risk-taking capacity is different, it's best to use a tool from a reputed com- pany, rather than a start-up.
Says Sri Kumar, former di- rector general of police, Karna- taka, and the first person to set up a cyber police station in In- dia back in 2002: “In money matters, I would rather not trust someone whom I am not too familiar with. Before giving out personal details online, the identity of the service provider should be verified properly.“
So, while change is inevita- ble, sticking to good old com- mon sense is the key.
saurabh.k@livemint.com
saurabh.k@livemint.com
