29 Financial Planning And Analysis Resources I Used Throughout My Journey: Boosted me To Make my Goal-Based Investing Simple & Effective

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Financial Planning And Analysis

In this article, I will provide a briefing on some financial planning and analysis resources I used. These courses, tools, and investment platforms help me to automate my goal-based investing journey.

Previously, I discussed an accident that happened in 2016 and changed my life. I also talked about how I started my investment journey from scratch and began using various investment products such as RD, FD, NSC, and various Mutual Funds.

Additionally, I shared my thoughts on how a financial planning course shattered my preconceived notions about personal finance and led me to reorganize my planning. I did my first portfolio review in 2020.

I also talked about how a meeting with a CFA (Certified Financial Advisor) boosted my confidence to be a DIY (Do It Yourself) Investor, where I shared my 2nd portfolio review in 2021. Then I talked about how I automated my goal-based investing approach and my portfolio review in December 2022.

Let’s get to the resources I used throughout my journey.

Some Financial Planning And Analysis courses, tools, and platforms I used:

Courses on Stock Market Investing:

I recommend these two courses. These are excellent Courses with value for money. The way the courses are well designed. After completing the course, even a person from a non-finance background will also be able to do a fundamental analysis of a company confidently and decide whether that stock can be good to go or not.

You can get these two free of cost like me, but you will have to search in Google and spend some time to get the links. I forgot the links. I have these videos on my laptop. Anyone interested can contact me, I will try to arrange something so that, you get the videos for free.

There is a course on technical analysis of the stock market too. I was never into hardcore trading. Yes, I previously did some swing trading, and most of the time I was successful. But I don’t do trading now. I don’t have that match of interest in trading. So, I did not go for any technical analysis course on the stock market.

Courses & Resources on Mutual Funds Investing:

But I would recommend you to use (4.) freefincal Youtube videos. These are so honest, with a lot of backtesting data statistics, you can learn a proper way to choose Mutual Funds.

Mutual fund portfolio overlap tool:

There are so many mutual fund portfolio overlap tools available on the Internet. I have used the following tools to create a customized portfolio.

(5.) Thefundoo portfolio overlap tool – It’s a great tool to get an idea about the common stocks between two mutual funds. I used it a lot during the early days of my investing in mutual funds.

(6.) Primeinvestor overlap tool – It’s also a great tool to compare mutual fund portfolios. You can check it out.

Mutual fund comparison tool:

(7.) ValueResearch Mutual fund comparison tool – It’s a fantastic tool to compare five different mutual funds at a time. I used this a lot during the beginning of my investment journey. The comparison includes:

  • Asset under management (AUM)
  • Expense ratio
  • Portfolio turnover ratio
  • Trailing returns
  • Risk and return parameters etc.

Courses on Personal Finance:

(8.) Financial planning Course – by Investyadhna. It was a game changer for me – I would recommend it to anyone any day to cover the basics (they provide about 10 calculators too).

After covering the basics you should opt for the (9.) “Goal-Based Portfolio Management Course – freefincal” by Pattu sir. But don’t start with this if you haven’t done the basics. These are mature contents and you won’t be able to digest them if you don’t know the basics.

Some Blogs and Resources on Personal Finance:

Freefincal – I got all my answers and cleared my doubts through freefincal. I rate it highest among all the personal finance websites.

(10.) Arthgyaan – This is also great and there is a goal-based investing tool available. It’s free and you can download it and use some features for free.

  • But to use it at its full potential you need to get a licence. I have the free version and have not opted for a license as for now I don’t need it and also it’s a bit complicated for me.
  • But this tool includes the FIRE goal, home loan EMI goal, and all kinds of goals. Those interested can check out this. Maybe in the future, I will try this too.

These two websites are my inspiration for creating realfinplan – Your Guide To Realistic Financial Planning 😀

(11.) Asan Ideas for Wealth (AIFW) – A Facebook group. I guess many of us know about it. Admin is one of a kind. You won’t find guys like him.

Fee-only Advisors in India:

For investment advice, you can consult with a fee-only advisor. Lists are in the link and you can book a call or arrange a meeting with them free of cost. Details are on their website. I visited the following sites where I could arrange a free meeting. While (12.)Chandan Sir cleared all my doubts and I didn’t need any advice further for now.

Mutual Funds investment platforms:

(14.) KUVERA – my favorite. The UI is not that great. But it’s feature-loaded like Trade Smart, Tax harvesting, and Family Portfolio. Most importantly the customer support is great. They have a live chat option for any kind of difficulty with a real person, if not satisfied they will call you to clarify things.

  • (15.) Groww – UI is simple and easy to use. You can also invest in stocks here
  • (16.) ET Money is also good
  • (17.) Niyo Money – It’s also great for goal-based MF investing. One of the Best direct MF investment platforms for goal-based investing 
  • (18.) IndMoney App – it’s a great app with a lot of features like MF investing, stocks investing, US Stock investing, and many more

Direct Stocks Investment Platforms:

I have used both. Both are trusted and great in terms of services. But the Zerodha console has one of the best fantastic analytics of the holdings. That’s why I use only zerodha as of now.

Robo Advisory Tool For Complete Goal-Based Investment Planning

  • (21.) Robo Advisory Tool by freefincal – It’s one of the finest Robo Financial Planning Advisory tools available on the web.
  • It will set things in auto mode.
  • You will get a road map for your entire goal time frame.
  • You will get a year action plan.
  • Then you just have to review your situation yearly. It will hardly take 30 minutes.

Tools & App For Goal-Based Portfolio Tracking

(22.) Mutual fund and Stock tracker by Pattu sir. It’s a great tool to visualize things.

I also use the (23.) “ARTOS app”. It’s the best app I used for Goal-Based Portfolio Tracking and visualization (and Net Worth tracking).

  • It has a lot of features with graphical representation (asset allocation, goal-wise asset allocation, investment vs net worth graph, net worth vs N50, fund performance vs N50, and some others). It gives a lot of visual clarity for investment. 
  • It also shows 3 “Required XIRR Graphs” to meet the target corpus.
  • The app has 5 different Portfolio segments. So, you can create different goal-based Portfolios. But you need to do everything manually, like statement upload, account linking (Dmat), manual transactions entry, etc. But the outcome of the labor is awesome. The UI provides good eye-catching graphs and details about almost everything.
  • It can track Stocks, Mutual funds, NPS (you need to upload transaction statements, NPS tracking in this app is best), EPF (Transaction statement), PPF, SSY, Deposits, and many other assets and liabilities. 
  • You can tag individual assets (stocks too) to different goals, which makes things easy.
  • It also has an expenses tab where you can also track your expenses.
  • But to use full features you will have to subscribe to their premium version. ₹1000/year. 
  • It can be a one-stop Personal Finance tracking app if you can customize it properly for yourself.

Apps for Managing Expenses & Budget

  • (24.) Money Manager App by Realbyte – simple, detailed, tons of features like Connect PC. I use this to track my expenses and get an idea. I never use the budget section. But with this app, it’s easy and helpful. I have the premium version.
  • (25.) Moneyfy – UI is nice and simple. The premium version is much lower than the previous one.
  • (26.) Wallet – This is a very popular app. You can also explore it
  • (27.) Bluecoins – A lot of graphics to visualize things
  • (28.) Money Manager – This is also a great app to visualize your income and expenses
  • I would recommend the first or the second one. Those are the simplest ones.

Tracking monthly Investment 

I would suggest “not to track the expenses but to track the investment”. This will change everything. I never controlled my expenses and always tried to control my investment. I have done this from the very beginning but never visualized it.

As I was tracking my investment, I never had to think about expenses throughout these years. I spent whatever amount but never thought about the amount, never thought about not buying anything or spending whenever needed.

You don’t need budget or expense tracking, you just need to be critically disciplined about your investing.

  • There is a (29.) free spreadsheet in freefincal. Use it for some years and you will see the difference. It will give you visual clarity about what’s going on. I have just started using it and it’s great. 
  • I mean this is why I love freefincal. I get whatever I need. It’s almost like a prime book for DIY INVESTORS. Read it, use it.

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I would request the readers to complete the previous articles about my journey so that they can understand how my thought process of investing changes over time.

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