New Computer Investing Products

iXpenseIt

is an iPhone app for daily budget and expense tracking. It also has many features and tools for tracking business expenses, and you can use it to keep track of important purchases and receipts for tax purposes. When you create a budget, you can see how your spending stacks up or simply track your daily spending habits.

The app is downloadable from the Apple App Store. You can search for “iXpenseIt” or find the app in the Finance section of the store. A free version, iXpenseIt Lite, is fully functioning but limits the number of budget entries you can make.

Once you have installed the app, simply start adding expenses. You can label any expense by type (personal or business), category (auto, electronics, entertainment, food, home, personal and more) and subcategory. You can customize the category labels if you wish. The day’s date is filled in automatically, but you can change that as well. Next, you can choose the type of payment (cash, check, credit, debit or gift card). Again these are fully customizable. Finally you enter the dollar amount of the expense, where the item was purchased and any notes you wish to add.

You can view spending on a weekly or monthly basis as well as see an overview of today’s spending versus your daily spending average.

The Reports area shows a summary table with total expenses by category and a bar and pie chart. You can also export the data in .CSV and HTML formats.

A convenient tool is the “Repeat Expense” option, which allows recurring expenses to be easily tracked. You can also store digital photo receipts for future reference and search your expense database by keyword.

For business expenses, you can export records with a photo receipt attachment. In addition, the app’s mileage and kilometer tracking tool has customizable reimbursement rates.

System Requirements: iPhone or iTouch only

Price: $4.99; free Lite version

FYI Mobileware, Inc.
www.fyimobileware.com
support@iexpenseit.com

ESPlanner Basic

ESPlanner is designed to help with retirement planning, saving and budgeting. The service uses economics-based planning for lifestyle decisions. ESPlanner Basic is a free, Web-based limited version of the ESPlanner software, which is offered for $149 (one-year license). When using the free online service, your information and suggested plan are only saved for 48 hours.

ESPlanner Basic takes you though a step-by-step questionnaire, requiring about 30 minutes to complete. Each of the steps is directed toward you and a spouse (if you are married).

The first step is to enter personal information such as age, marital status, income and assets.

Next, you include data on your retirement holdings. If at any point you are not sure what to enter, you can click the question for more information.

Next, you answer the housing questions about renting versus owning, payments and more. The Special Expenses section includes information about your children’s college tuition, and Other Income covers pensions.

Social Security gets its own section. You are asked if you are currently receiving payments and what the monthly amount is. If you are not yet receiving payments, ESPlanner asks when you expect to begin collecting and how much you expect to receive.

The final section is called Assumptions. Here you make predictions about possible future tax rates, cuts to Social Security payments and inflation. Once all the data is entered, choose “Create Plan.”

The program charts your overall net worth and lists all of the assumptions included in the calculations. There is also a section that will help you to analyze and understand the data provided. In addition, ESPlanner generates year-by-year tables that show assets, income and spending.

System Requirements: Windows XP and Windows Vista; Internet connection

Price: Free

Economic Security Planner, Inc.
www.esplanner.com

StockPickerRT

StockPickerRT is marketed toward short-term traders, but can be utilized by long-term investors as well. The program is designed to pick stocks—based on both technical and fundamental indicators—that have the potential for a short-term gain.

StockPickerRT scans market data for companies exhibiting good fundamental and technical characteristics. Data points such as earnings and revenue growth and trading volume are used.

When you first open the program, you will see a list of stocks that currently meet the program’s scan (the program works in real time to scan the market). You can change the settings to automatically refresh the scan at various intervals, or you can refresh the scan manually.

For each of the stock picks, you can read a company summary and see charts with various technical indicators over various timeframes. The program lacks sufficient fundamental data, but investors can find this data on any comprehensive financial Web site.

You can also run filters against the stock picks based on price (minimum and maximum) and volume statistics. You can create customized filters and if a stock no longer passes all of the filters, it will be dropped from the list on the next scan.

The help materials in the program are very useful and give instructions about buying and selling stock, including a discussion of using stop-loss orders. A discussion of exit strategies is also provided.

While StockPickerRT is built for day traders, it can be a useful tool for anyone interested in using technical indicators to find breakout stocks. This tool does not help you monitor the stocks after purchase, but it will generate fresh stock ideas throughout the trading day.

System Requirements: Windows OS (compatible with Vista and 7); Internet connection

Price: $79/month; 14-day trial for $14

Investing Systems, Inc.
P.O. Box 15923
Fernandina Beach, FL 32035-3116
(904) 491-8900
www.stock-picker-rt.com
Info@Investing-Systems.com

Financial GPS

Financial GPS is a financial planning program to help investors see how long their savings will last. The program includes a worst-case scenario tool that allows you to apply random financial scenarios (like losing a job) to your planning.

The program was previously available as a CD-ROM only. The updated version is Web-based, free and offers a number of improvements, including over 42 languages and various currencies, the ability to save infinite scenarios and a sleeker look and feel.

The first section is called Personal Info & Goals. You enter basic information about yourself and your spouse (your age, salaries, expected retirement, etc.). You then add estimated yearly expenditures, or set up a detailed monthly budget that is compounded to a yearly spending amount. Finally, you select appropriate tax rates.

In step two you are asked to list any additional income sources (proceeds from a home sale, annuities, life insurance, Social Security, inheritance, etc.). You can enter one-time payments or recurring payments, pick the payment duration, and growth and tax rates, if applicable. You can also add as many other income items as you would like.

Step three uses the same format for expenses. In addition to regular monthly expenditures, you can plan for college, weddings, funerals, mortgage payments and more. Again, you choose the duration and type of expense.

Finally, step four asks for information about your investments, such as 401(k)s, Roth IRAs and other individual investment accounts.

During the process, you can access a “Step by Step Guide” for more information about each step. You can also hover your mouse over a question mark next to most inputs to see a brief definition.

After you have created a profile, you will see the resulting cash flow analysis. The program warns if you will run out of money before retirement. At this point you can run a disaster scenario by choosing from inflation increases, unexpected expenses, increases in yearly expenses, a job loss, or a combination.

System Requirements: Internet connection

Price: Free

Ameriprep Solutions
P.O. Box 34
Ada, MI 49301
www.financial-gps.com
info@ameriprepsolutions.com