Best Portfolio Management Software for 2024
Written by
John Csiszar
Edited by
Elizabeth Constantineau
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Portfolio management software is different from portfolio management, even though they share similar names. Whereas true portfolio management involves financial professionals investing money on your behalf, asset allocation tools and portfolio management software are simply a way to keep track of your financial life. Modern portfolio management software often provides advanced metrics and analysis to help you fully understand your complete financial situation.
Here’s a look at what portfolio management software is, how it works, the features and benefits it provides and whether or not it’s something that you should use.
What Is Portfolio Management Software?
Basic portfolio management software allows you to track and maintain all of your individual financial accounts and investments. Advanced versions provide asset allocation tools for optimizing your investments. Regardless of the software you use, you should be able to consolidate all of your financial information into a single program. This allows you to see at a glance how all of your different accounts interact.
The best programs provide ways for you to integrate all of this information and analyze it so you can tell where you might need to make adjustments to keep everything in balance. For example, a good software program can tell you which of your accounts are performing well and which ones may be underperforming.
Here are some of the additional features that you should look for in a top-tier software program.
Key Features To Look For
In addition to simply listing all of your financial accounts, the best portfolio software management companies provide the following types of services:
- Data integration from multiple sources: As many investors have multiple accounts hosted at a variety of custodians and/or financial services firms, a good software management program will be able to cull data from an unlimited number of sources.
- Portfolio tracking: The primary function of most portfolio management programs is to track investor portfolios. This includes everything from current holdings to historical transactions. The best will list extensive information about portfolios, such as cost basis, yield and gain/loss.
- Customizable reporting: Every investor is different, so a good portfolio management software program will be customizable. Whether you want to change the display on your computer or app, choose different data to be shown to you on the front page or simply like different colors or fonts, the best programs will be flexible enough to meet your needs and preferences.
- Investment analysis: The best portfolio software won’t just list and track your investments, but analyze them. While most programs don’t do things like make buy and sell recommendations, good ones will analyze how an investment is performing relative to a certain degree of risk, if it’s above or below your intended asset allocation, what analysts project for its future and so on.
- Risk analysis and management: Top-tier portfolio management programs provide comprehensive risk tools to help investors squeeze the maximum return out of their portfolios for the least risk. At the very least, you should look for programs that provide the alpha and beta for your portfolio, which measure an investment’s performance relative to an index and its volatility, respectively.
- Cost reporting: Tax planning is an important part of investing. One of the most useful features of good portfolio software is the ability to track the amount you paid on every single one of your transactions. This will make it easy to report the gains or losses you take on every trade when you report your taxes. It can also help you plan your trading strategies, as you may want to harvest losses on some positions or hold your investments until you can benefit from long-term capital gains tax rates.
4 Top Portfolio Management Software Programs
The best portfolio management software program is the one that provides the information and services that you need most. As such, there is no one “best” program for everyone.
Here’s a list of some of the most popular portfolio management software programs, including their features and benefits, so that you can choose the one that is best for you.
Quicken Premier
Quicken Premier is one of the original portfolio management tools, and it has grown to become a full-service program. Here are some of the top features of Quicken Premier:
- Sell all your accounts from all institutions on one financial dashboard.
- Track both liquid assets and long-term holdings.
- Monitor every aspect of your investment portfolio.
- See true returns of your investments, including fees, costs, cash flow and performance vs. benchmarks.
With Quicken Premier, you can either enter data manually or have it automatically imported electronically. The service costs $7.99 per month, but it’s often discounted on the website to $3.99 per month.
Empower Personal Dashboard
Empower offers many of the same investment management and tracking tools as Quicken Premier, including the following:
- Investment tracking
- Cash flow analysis
- Investment returns
- Asset allocation views
Unlike many other portfolio management services, Empower’s tracking tools are free of charge. However, Empower also offers an actual paid investment management and financial planning service that includes the valuation of real estate, if desired.
Morningstar Investor
Morningstar Investor is a bit different from the other portfolio trackers on this list because it comes from more of an investment background. Morningstar Investor evolved out of the company’s original Portfolio Manager product, which was famous for its “Morningstar X-Ray.”
This tool provides comprehensive information about investments that go deeper than many of its competitors and include the company’s trademarked star rating system and analyst reviews. However, the service costs $249 per year.
Fidelity Full View
Fidelity Full View is a free service — at least for Fidelity customers — offered by one of the most respected financial services firms in the industry. Like other trackers, Fidelity Full View links your financial data so you can analyze your accounts with a single, “full view.”
To get started, simply enter your sign-in credentials for any account that you want to import the information from, including banks, credit cards, investment accounts and even frequent flyer accounts if you so desire. Once your accounts are linked, you can have Fidelity automatically update the information daily.
The Bottom Line
Portfolio management software and asset allocation tools can make planning your financial life easier. If you use all the tools provided with the best versions, you can actually become a better investor, as you’ll see your asset allocation, risk profile, performance and tax situation much more clearly.
Takeaway
Finding and working with a financial advisor is a great idea. A financial advisor will help keep track of your finances and assist you in attaining your financial goals. While finding the right one can be overwhelming, you can decide to work with a financial advisor in your community or a virtual one.
FAQ
Here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about investing and portfolio management tools.- How do I monitor my investment portfolio?
- You can track your portfolio yourself with a pen and paper or a spreadsheet, but it's easier and more convenient to use portfolio management software.
- What are the four types of portfolio management?
- The four types of portfolio management are active, passive, discretionary and non-discretionary. Regardless of which portfolio management style you use, you can track all of your portfolios using software.
- How do I track all my investments in one place?
- Portfolio management software programs are a great option for keeping all of your financial information in a single place. If you have three different portfolios at three different firms, for example, it can be hard to get a real picture of where you stand in terms of your asset allocation and performance unless you combine them all using a good software program.
Information is accurate as of Nov. 7, 2024.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.
