
2020’s best free online investment analysis tools
It might be time to review your investments. Here are the best free online investment analysis tools of 2020 for international investors.
These online tools allow you to search through the best investment options for your pension funds. From investment funds to direct share holdings, search online for investment costs, mandates, risk ratings, past performance and latest news.
How to review your own pension investments:
Look through your latest pension statement for the following information to conduct your research:
- fund name
- manager name and team
- fund identifier – SEDOL or IMEI number
Consider your investment risk profile, or attitude to risk. This is the amount of risk you are willing to take with your money. If you have a long-timeframe for your investments, you will be able to absorb market volatility (the ups and downs). If you need to access your money soon, then consider a low or cautious approach to investment risk. Use a risk analysis tool or psychometric risk profile test – get our FREE online toolkit for more guidance and pension research tools.
Online investment tools are great for researching investment funds. All regulated funds have ‘factsheets’ available online. Fund factsheets contain important information, such as:
- the fund manager/s
- the costs of running the fund
- the investments held within the fund
- the expected costs of trading
- past performance statistics & graphs
- a statement describing the investment strategy for the fund
- a description of the investment risk approach the fund is taking
- a collection of important statistics and measures, relative for professional fund analysis
Once you’ve read through the fund factsheet, consider whether that fund is suited for you.
If it isn’t, consider what you want from an investment fund and manager, or what investments would work together to create a portfolio. Use online tools to compare your fund’s performance with the general market. Remember to compare like-for-like. There’s little point in testing your cautious fund against a top-performing adventurous fund. If you hold a fund with 50% equity exposure, compare it with a similar benchmark. If you have ethical or green investments, compare the investments to an ETF or appropriately risk-rated benchmark in that market.