Messages: What Members Are Asking On-Line

Quicken.com’s Focus Shift

I greatly appreciate the periodic articles on “best Web sites.” In the September/October 2008 comparison of Comprehensive Web sites, I was surprised that Quicken.com was not included! I have used Quicken for many years for my portfolio tracking.

—R.B.S.

CI Editor's Response: A few years ago the Quicken Web site stopped offering on-line portfolio tracking and analysis tools and became strictly a marketing tool for the software version of Quicken. This is why the site was not included in the latest comparison of comprehensive Web sites. Given the cost of providing the data associated with such on-line tools, this was probably a business decision by Intuit, the maker of Quicken. If nothing else, Intuit can take the money and resources it had been using on the Web site and focus them on the Quicken program.

Hiccup at MoneyPools

CI Editors Comments: The Product Update column in the September/October 2008 issue of CI discussed MoneyPools, an on-line portfolio tracking service that pulls your account information directly from your broker. The following is a letter from a reader regarding an experience with the site.

After reading about MoneyPools in CI and contemplating the ramifications of turning over sensitive username and password data, which normally I would never do, I signed up for the service. I felt that this Web site would be a benefit to me and that if you wrote about it, it must be a viable investment Web site. I set up three of my financial accounts without any problems, but when I tried to set up my Oppenheimer account, it would not take it. I sent an E-mail at the MoneyPools Web site asking for help. Also, I noticed that the bonds in my Fidelity account did not transfer to MoneyPools, so I sent another E-mail to their help desk from within the Web site. I never received back any help, or even an acknowledgement E-mail. Four days later I went to the site again and sent another E-mail. A day later, I received back an auto response E-mail stating that no one had picked up the E-mail. As a result of this, I changed all of my passwords with my brokerage accounts and sent an E-mail to MoneyPools asking them to immediately cancel my account. You hear horror stories about Web sites all the time. I didn’t want to become the next victim.

—I.H.

CI Editor's Response: I am very sorry to hear about your experience with the MoneyPools site, especially since your decision to use it was influenced by our coverage. We only include those sites and services that appear legitimate, and we make every attempt to err on the side of caution. We forwarded your E-mail to MoneyPools and received the following response addressed to you:

My name is Dirk Quayle, president of MoneyPools. AAII informed me of your recent experience with MoneyPools and your concerns. I appreciate your interest in MoneyPools and am very sorry to hear about your experience.

First, I want to assure you that your data is secure. Second, I want to let you know that the unresponsiveness you experienced is uncharacteristic of the MoneyPools team. During this Beta testing period, we experienced an issue with receiving E-mails from the MoneyPools Web site. This issue has been resolved and all future E-mails will be responded to in a timely manner. In regards to your specific issues, MoneyPools does not currently support the automatic import of Oppenheimer accounts, but we expect to add this soon. Also, we plan to add a new feature that will allow users to manually enter their account data. This will provide another option for telling MoneyPools about your accounts.

As for your second question, bonds are not supported at this time. We do expect to add support for bonds in the future.

I apologize for your initial experience using MoneyPools. I hope that you decide to give MoneyPools another try and let me know what you think about it. We really appreciate your feedback.

Where to Find Mutual Fund Screening

CI Editor's Response: AAII does not have its own mutual fund screening program. However, the comparison article in the May/June 2007 issue of CI covers 14 on-line and software-based mutual fund screeners. You can find this article in the archives of the Computerized Investing Web site (www.computerizedinvesting.com). Also, this issue’s annual Editor’s Top Picks article includes our favorite mutual fund screening services.