Personal Capital Review

Personal Capital has a website that is rather easy to use. Consequently, I went to their website after hearing about them, and I was able to get set up with a free account immediately. The process just took a couple of minutes.

However, Personal Capital does need a few bits of info for you to be able to register. As an illustration: you’ll need to make up a password, provide an e-mail address, and give them a phone number.

Mint vs. Personal Capital Comparisons

Another company that offers a similar product to Personal Capital is Mint. Mint has many of the same services that are provided by Personal Capital. The primary difference is in how the info is displayed. Therefore, for individuals who believe that Mint comes with an excessive amount of information on the control panel, then chances are you’ll fall in love with Personal Capital. On the other hand, both Personal Capital and Mint also come with software for iOS and Android.

Remember, Mint was the first cost-free money management site on the market. Therefore, it will always have more name recognition than Personal Capital. Unfortunately, Mint has started to have pop-up advertisements. Their interface is also somewhat cluttered. Personal Capital, on the other hand, has a more streamlined interface.

However, one drawback for Personal Capital is that they have fewer ways to monitor your spending, compared to Mint. Consequently, if keeping a close eye on your spending is your primary motivation for utilizing this service, then Personal Capital may not be the one for you.

Personal Capital Services

You should be aware that Personal Capital has a large number of different services that they provide. Furthermore, their primary function is syncing up each of your current fiscal accounts in one place. Therefore, their website is useful because it will allow a user to view all their different reports. Remember, it doesn't matter if you have a bunch of accounts with many different providers, because Personal Capital will fetch info from all of them on a single page.

That allows you to produce summaries of your total worth, as well as view your investing accounts. They also provide you with tips and hints on how to make your money work for you. They are, in fact, successfully delivering user-friendly financial preparation tools to the public using their site. Moreover, best of all, it is entirely free to utilize the bulk of the services they offer.

Features

The company provides a few features. The primary functionality they provide is their zero cost money management software. They also offer a remunerated investment counseling program. On the other hand, you should keep in mind that Personal Capital produces income by only asking for payment in the event you get involved with their investment counseling services.

Furthermore, after connecting financial accounts with Personal Capital, they keep on being connected unless you disable them. However, they will also stop being attached if you modify some of the account data for the linked account. Therefore, they will no longer be connected if you adjust your username, change your access code, and so forth.

Advisory Tools

Fiscal consultants that concentrate on money management may be expensive to keep on hand. Therefore, Personal Capital offers Advisory Tools that will help perform many of the functions that a fiscal consultant would handle.

The advisory tools area provides:

Investment Checkup - An investment decision assistant that gives you a data-driven evaluation, as well as an entirely personalized view, of your financial well-being.

Retirement Planner - This module analyzes the question of whether your present level of financial savings will be sufficient to sustain your retirement.

401k Fee Analyzer - The Personal Capital 401k fee analyzer provides a look at your current 401k plan to disclose the total amount you’re paying in service fees.

Invest Now - Utilize this link to enroll in their investment counseling solutions.

Personal Capital Customer Services

I did contact Personal Capital one time to find out why I was having an issue linking one of my banks to their service. Furthermore, the person I communicated with made it easier for me to link up with my bank. They additionally made available some data for me that integrated information with regards to how the account functions. Also, they were always clear on if any specific fees could be related to utilizing their site.

Moreover, they provided me with a great deal of information immediately. The Personal Capital customer services team also emailed the message to me rather quickly. That meant that I could familiarize myself, at my own pace, with the services they offer.

About the Author
About the Author Image

Gerard I. "G.I." Prud'Homme M.Sc.

has studied at Harvard, Oxford, and the University of London and has lived in London, Paris, Hawai'i, and Los Angeles. He has a Master of Science in Computer Science degree, is fluent in many programming and human languages, and has programmed several shareware, freeware, and open-source programs. He has also had a dozen books published. He now works as a Developer and lives in CA in the Greater Los Angeles region.