A chat with Bill Harris the CEO of Personal Capital

Summary: Personal Capital is a free service that allows you to track all of your investments in one place. Read on for our Personal Capital review and why we recommend you add it to your financial toolbox.<br> I remember going into a Travel Agency with my mom to plan our family vacations. We knew where we wanted to go but we didn’t know the details like what we would see on our trip, where we would stay or how we would get there. At the time the easiest way to plan a trip involved talking to an expert or consulting colorful pamphlets.<br> When websites like Expedia or Orbitz bust onto the scene they solved an important problem – information imbalance. The Travel Agent existed simply because they had access to information the average person didn’t and they were willing to make phone calls and book a trip for you.<br> With all of this information at our finger tips and the automation of most of the booking process we now gladly book vacations ourselves. We also save money by cutting out the middlemen (the Travel Agent).<br> Personal Capital solves that very same problem for investors – information imbalance.<br> There are practically infinite choices for you to park your money. Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTI) has over 3,700 stocks that it invests in and across the world, there are over 45,000 companies listed on the stock market. Not to mention there are Bonds, REITs and a whole slew of other things you could invest in.<br> So what is Personal Capital?<br> You’re about to be impressed.<br> <br> <a title="Personal Capital" href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/go/personal-capital/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Personal Capital</a> is a free research and analytical tool that empowers the average investor to make the best possible decisions with their money. In a world of well-funded highly sophisticated, this tool goes a long way towards leveling the playing field.<br> If you’ve been a fan of Listen Money Matters for even a short time, you are probably tracking your spending in Mint. But how are you tracking your investments?  Personal Capital gives you that fifty-foot overview which has made us such fans of Mint. (Shameless plug: If you don’t know Mint yet, check out our book, <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/mastering-mint/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mastering Mint</a>, and get to know this smart budgeting tool.)<br> While Personal Capital is a pretty important tool for every investor, it’s absolutely necessary for people who contribute to 401ks / TSPs and DIY investors.<br> In my Personal Capital Review, we’re going to break down all of the tool’s components and explain why they matter and how to use them. The goal is for you to be able to roll off this review and become productive immediately.<br> <a title="Tracking Your Returns" name="TrackingReturns"></a><br> Tracking Your Returns<br> You might have heard this quote from Peter Drucker, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” Peter was a famous management executive and pioneered how people are organized across corporate and government organizations.<br> A cornerstone of his philosophy was the importance of data and using it to drive decision making. How can you make a decision if you don’t have any information which to base it on? I’ve found that the detailed metrics available to me in my Personal Capital account help me to make very, very educated decisions. Smart decisions. Decisions that make more money.<br> Investing is no different. How can you decide to change your investing approach or stay the course if you don’t know how you’re doing? Even if you used no other feature of Personal Capital, you should use it to track your investment performance across all of your accounts.<br> Mint does let you track investments too but if you’ve ever used it then you’...