Google Finance

Believe it or not, Google has yet another tool to make your life easier, more interesting, and even help you make some money: Google Finance (Beta). Read about it's plethora of features and why it's better than Yahoo! Finance after the break.

I discovered Google Finance while experimenting with Yahoo! Finance. I had just finished entering my portfolio into Yahoo! Finance and I was a little unhappy with the display of information. Some of the information I wanted was in a small box in the upper left corner. OK, nothing wrong with that. Then a little more of the information I wanted was on the middle right. Between the two blocks were ridiculous amounts of graphic advertisements and a listing of financial news articles and blogs that didn’t appeal to me. After toying with it for a few minutes I had the thought: “Google generally does everything Yahoo! does, only better. I wonder if there’s a Google Finance?” After a quick Google search my suspicions were confirmed.

Setting up my portfolio in Google Finance took less time and was much less confusing than Yahoo! Finance. Yahoo! required me to access two pages via a “continue” or “next” button to enter pertinent info while filling most of the screen with options I wasn’t interested in. After completing the info I was also never sure exactly which “edit” button would edit my portfolio, edit the way it is viewed, or edit some other random function. Google Finance was beautifully simple. I get approximately the same screen to edit my portfolio as I did to enter it. All the fields are intuitive and the format is very sleek.

Now when I view Google Finance I see everything I want to see on one simple screen that doesn’t require scrolling. I see my portfolio’s daily performance in the upper left, news related to my portfolio in the center, a market overview on the right, and some more interesting columns on bottom like gainers/losers, all market news, and a market summary by sector. The only thing I have to scroll downward to access (on a 20” monitor at 1600x1200) is videos about the market.

Like most other things Google, Google Finance is not only sleek but very powerful when you dig a little deeper. When I click on the symbol for one of my holdings on the main screen it opens a page with detailed information. If the holding is a mutual fund it will essentially open the fund sheet and a performance chart that is customizable to the n’th degree. I can adjust the time frame I want to view visually by adjusting the width of a slider. I can then slide the window along the specified time frame that I select at top that ranges from one day back to inception. As I adjust the timeframe slider the scale of the graph at top automatically adjusts to provide more or less detail as appropriate. I can also hold my mouse pointer anywhere I desire over the line graph and it will project a point downward onto the graph and tell me the associated day and closing value in the upper right corner. I can easily compare it with other holdings by hitting the compare button above the graph and entering the holding’s symbol. I only have to remember the first couple letters of the symbol because Google Finance brings up an auto-complete list of symbols that match what you’ve entered so far along with descriptions of the holding to ensure you’re selecting the correct one.

If the holding you select from the main page is a stock or index the same uber-cool graph comes up but you get even more interesting information and more options. Directly to the right of the graph is news about that particular holding. The news stories are labeled alphabetically and a corresponding labeled marker appears on the graph on the corresponding point in time that the story broke. The graph is also labeled with splits and other pertinent events. New stories are labeled in reverse chronological order so you see the most recent news first. You can easily customize whether you want to see all or none of these features with the “settings” button above the chart. Underneath the news column you’ll find Google group discussions related to the holding. Additionally you’ll find all the key information you would expect plus a list of related companies and their performances.

Google stuck to the KISS principle with Google Finance and hit another homerun. It’s easy to setup and edit, visually pleasing and neatly organized, and intensely detailed and powerful should one wish to delve into it. It’s probable that many investment firms offering online access to their clients don’t offer tools this powerful.