WHAT IS Financial Portal

Financial portals are websites that provide a variety of financial data and information. They act as information hubs for clients who are individual investors and require up-to-date financial news and data to make their investment decisions. Financial portals are often cloud-based platforms that are customizable for both the financial institution and the investor client.

BREAKING DOWN Financial Portal

Financial portals are intended to give clients all the finance-related information they need. Often the portals will provide visitors with quotes, research, articles, analyst recommendations and so on. Financial portals may also provide links to various relevant sites that offer this kind of information. In addition, many financial portals provide email accounts, chat rooms and web forums. Use of a financial portal offers benefits to financial services and institutions as well as investors, leveraging technology so that customers can have more control of their financial future and advisors can work more efficiently.

InetSoft is an example of a company that builds custom financial-sector client portals. This kind of developer can handle all the service and integration work necessary to build the web portal. Specifically, InetSoft offers features such as live chat with financial advisors, document or task management, calculators, asset views and estimates, on-demand reports or financial indexes, and financial-news tracking. InetSoft's client portals are cloud-based, with no hardware or software infrastructure.

Example of a Financial Portal

Pensionmark, a financial services company for employees, offers an interactive personal financial portal, which they market as a "financial control center" that offers budgeting and savings tools. Pensionmark's financial portal shows an investor everything they are making and spending as well as everything they own, including savings, investments and real estate, all in one place and kept up-to-date in real time. Customers can chart how long their savings will last based on their expected retirement date. Pensionmark claims that its "unique service model aims for better outcomes with less effort for every stakeholder." Their financial portal includes elements such as: an organizer, which connects all accounts and information for an organized, consolidated view; a financial workshop, which offers individualized tips on staying on target and managing financial goals; an education center, which offers a personalized library of videos, articles and resources; a vault, which clients can use to store sensitive documents that are available any time they need to access them; a spending tracker and other budgeting tools; digital post mail, which offers secure online delivery of a client's U.S.

postal mail; and interactive charts and detailed views on a client's investments.