Online portfolios track stock ups and downs

If you want to track the value of your investments day-to-day, you can. A number of sites on the Internet have free portfolio trackers. Most are bare-bones, but some produce a good deal of information.

Where can you find them? Assuming you have a broker with a Web presence, start there. At a minimum, your broker should allow you to enter the stocks yourself. Some may enter purchase information and updates automatically.

But you may want more. Or perhaps you invest in no-load mutual funds, and don’t have a broker. Excellent, free trackers are also available via Yahoo. MSN, Morningstar and others. America Online offers a more limited tracker for members only.

Price quotes in the free trackers usually are delayed up to 20 minutes.

Yahoo

This portfolio tracker is typically Yahoo stark. But it offers a ton of options. You must have a Yahoo! account to access the tracker.

Once signed into your account at www.yahoo.com. click on the Finance category, then, in the upper left, click Create. Select the type of portfolio you wish to create and enter your data. Click Finished and the result will be a table showing your holdings.

To add variables, click Edit just above the table and choose price, percentage or other data.

MSN

This portfolio tracker is only slightly less detailed than that offered by Yahoo! Sign in at www.msn.com and, under Living & Finances, click Money, Investing, Portfolio Manager and then the New Account button. You can customize what information is displayed. So, if you want, say, a position’s market value, you can add that. On the portfolio view, click View Options. Under Custom Column Selection, pick the column you wish to change. Click the down arrow and select Market Value.

Morningstar

This site offers lots of information about investing and includes a good portfolio tracker. Sign in at www.morningstar.com. click Portfolio and follow the instructions to keep track how your stocks, mutual funds and cash are performing. You can also import your portfolio from Yahoo. MSN or AOL.

AOL

America Online’s portfolio tracker, available only to members at www.aol.com. is limited. But unless you’re a stock market buff, it could suffice. Click Personal Finance on AOL’s opening window. Then click Create a Portfolio and Create a New Portfolio. Name the portfolio and enter the stock or fund symbols, number of shares and purchase price. Click Save and you’re done.

These are just a few of the many portfolio trackers available on the Web. Stock market software programs also include trackers.