Financial freedom is priceless. But how do you get there? The easiest way to start is to use Personal Capital to track your finances. Their free wealth management tools make it easy to grow your wealth because you can see all your financial accounts in one place.
The company is based right here in my hometown of San Francisco. And it was founded in 2011 by Bill Harris, former CEO of Intuit and Paypal. I've used their free tools to stay on top of my finances since 2012. As a result, I've been able to optimize my net worth, reduce investment fees, and plan for a financially secure retirement.
To optimize your finances, I recommend signing up with Personal Capital and linking all your financial accounts. The more you're able to track your money in one place, the better you'll be able to grow your wealth.
Use Personal Capital Free Tools To Track Your Finances
Here's how you can use Personal Capital to track your finances. Use all of their free tools to your advantage.
- Whatever device you use, the Personal Capital dashboard makes it easy to view all of your account details.
- In addition, if your browser window is too small, the sidebar will auto hide. Simply hover over it to expand. You can also use the ‘pin’ icon to make it stick in your current session.
- Each section now has a 90-day graph behind the total. Quickly see the movements of your account balances over time.
- There are now + icons at the top and bottom of the sidebar too. Quickly add an account and see your full financial picture.
New Personal Capital Widgets
The dashboard now features new individual widgets as well. They make it easier to access Personal Capital's tools right from the dashboard itself.
For example, now you can click on the section header and directly to the corresponding tool. Here's a list of the available widgets:
- NET WORTH:Â This is your financial report card summed up in a single number. It tells you what you have (assets) minus what you owe (liabilities).Â
- They changed the orientation of the net worth chart so it is featured prominently on the left side rail.
- It's also in the top widget on the dashboard.
- The font size has also been increased making it easier to see your net worth.
- And they've also added the asset and liabilities bar underneath.
- CASH FLOW: This compares your earnings with your spending. It also highlights what you’ve saved over the past month.
- BUDGETING: Your spending is neatly categorized by type. This gives you a high-level overview as well as shows individual transactions. Click the pencil to set a monthly budget target.
- PORTFOLIO BALANCE: This displays a summary of all your investment accounts and gives you a total balance.
- INVESTABLE CASH: This is a new feature that totals up your cash in your bank and investment accounts. View the money you have available to invest if you decide to do so.
- MARKET MOVERS: Track how your portfolio has fared relative to the market with the You Index. It aggregates your portfolio performance into a single number.
- MARKET & BLOG COMMENTARY: You’ll receive a weekly market recap and outlook on the week’s events along with blog highlights.
- RETIREMENT SAVINGS: This is a summary of your retirement saving to date, pulled directly from the Retirement Planner tool.
- RECESSION SIMULATOR: After the global pandemic of 2020, Personal Capital came out with this new Recession Simulator tool. It helps you gauge how your investments will perform if things continue to stay bad.
CUSTOMIZABLE DATE RANGES
- Based on customer feedback, Personal Capital has also updated the date ranges. They've gone from rolling to individual ranges that you can customize based on your needs.
- You’ll see the new date ranges everywhere from Budgeting to the Net Worth tool.
- See the example highlighted in red below.
- You can also hover over the graph in the Net Worth tool to see your total net worth on a given day.
- You’ll also now see your 1-day change in the upper right corner under the total. This makes it easier to track your progress.
Leverage Free Technology For Greater Wealth!
Use Personal Capital to track your finances for greater wealth. Know where your money is going and where it’s being invested. You'll gain a tremendous amount of confidence in your financial well-being in the process.
The best feature I find on Personal Capital is their Retirement planner. This is a snapshot of what it looks like.
It's best to analyze your finances now with the use of technology because there is no rewind button in life.
You may not be wealthy now. But just knowing you’ve got your finances in order and have a financial plan tremendously increases your chances of financial success. Once you are financially secure, you free to do whatever you truly want.
Get a handle on your finances by signing up with Personal Capital for free and aggregating all your accounts. The financial management tools are free and it takes less than a minute to sign up. And if you want you can even find a personal financial advisor if interested for a fee.
About the Author: Sam worked in finance for 13 years. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from The College of William & Mary and got his MBA from UC Berkeley. In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 34 largely due to his investments that now generate roughly $250,000 a year in passive income. He spends time playing tennis, taking care of his family, and writing online to help others achieve financial freedom too.
Sam started Financial Samurai in 2009 and has grown it to be one of the largest independently owned personal finance sites in the world. You can sign up for his free private newsletter here.
