Perhaps no aspect of the financial world has been affected more by advancing computer technology than has investing in stocks and securities. The lightning-quick ups and downs of Wall Street are made to order for a machine that can make millions of calculations per second.

Tracking stock investments traditionally meant hiring a stock brokerage firm and paying fees every time a share is bought or sold. That has changed radically over the past two decades with the growth of the internet and so-called "discount" brokerage firms. These days the fees are still there but are greatly reduced for those who do their own market research and initiate their own trades.

Variety of Software

Of all the areas in which financial planning software is available, securities investments probably is the broadest. Not only can someone buy a basic money management suite that will record the investments and chart earnings and other basic calculations, there also is software available, sometimes quite expensive software, which does much of the work normally done by a stockbroker.

An investor can expect to pay from $150 to $250 or more for software packages that accomplish what it once took a stockbrokers license to do. The software will calculate historical trends for a stock, evaluate when is the best time to buy or sell, and incorporate all that data into the investor's "trading plan." The software also will perform a number of other advanced calculations known and understood by few except market insiders.

Basics of Investment Software

Of course, there also is software available for those who do not want to become full-time "day traders." Even for those who still employ a full-service stockbroker, the ability to record and chart stock performance can make all the difference. This is especially true of those who have Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) or 401(k) plans that include stocks or mutual funds.

For these people, picking the funds is something done when the plan is opened, then usually forgotten. About the only time anyone thinks about what investments are in their IRA or retirement plan is the periodic update they get from the fund. Having the performance of each segment of the fund charted in a financial planning software package gives the investor a leg up on knowing when or whether to shift those investments.

These money management packages also are useful in planning for tax time since that financial data automatically is entered into the companion tax component of the software suite.