DECEMBER 2002

Which SSG Software Is The Best?

From Our Puget Sound Chapter

A very common question asked by NAIC members is: "Which of the three different Stock Selection Guide (SSG) software tools is the best?"

It's not an easy question to address, but for a happy reason: They're all good. Really! You can choose from Investor Toolkit (by Investware) or Stock Analyst PLUS or NAIC Classic (both designed by STB and offered by IClubCentral.)

Since I feel that they're all good choices, my first recommendation is to find the tool that either the most club members in your club use, or alternatively, the tool that the most experienced, "best" investors in your club use. The point here is that by using the same tool, you can help each other out, "teach" each other, share tips and perhaps "club conventions" will take shape on how things are done. Please do buy your own individual copy of the software however! We should be supporting these small software firms rather than stealing their work.

Beyond that suggestion, it's a little subjective. Here are a few things that I've experienced and/or heard about in terms of what might make one product "better" than another in specific areas:

• NAIC Classic is a pretty new product. Before it arrived on the scene, the rough summary that people heard most often was that Toolkit was a little easier to learn and use, but that Stock Analyst was often preferred by the most experienced investors.
• NAIC Classic was designed to be particularly easy to use and learn. It has two modes: beginner and advanced. In beginner mode, a "wizard" guides you through choices you make and can give feedback on your judgment. More advanced users might find this annoying, so of course, it can be turned off.
• One benefit of Toolkit and Classic is that they allow NAIC members to start out by purchasing the "basic" version of the product for $59. Then, if you decide later you want the added modules for portfolio management, you can just pay to upgrade to the complete version.
• All three tools offer pretty complete support of NAIC forms and methodologies. Toolkit and Stock Analyst also extend those somewhat in terms of how they can logically be applied on a computer.
• There are many specific features that cause people to love one product over another. The major benefit of Classic is that it does the most to guide an absolute beginner through completing and evaluating a Stock Selection Guide.
• With Toolkit, I find it easier to find and import data files, though the new version of Classic makes OPS data import equally easy. Toolkit offers more periodic updates (free patches) of the product, providing bug fixes and minor new features to existing users. The Toolkit development team has been willing to add some "undocumented features" to serve some of the more experienced investors, and I've appreciated having some of these. Puget Sound's Jim Thomas has summarized information on these features with the article: Toolkit's Undocumented Features.
• Stock Analyst allows me to input and view balance sheet data. It also supports easy plotting of any 3 out of 26 different measures at one time, something I really like. You can also "page through" very quickly to see the Visual Analysis of every SSG in your database, a fun kind of visual "screening" that you have to see to appreciate. Even better, there's a "preview" mode that allows you to do the same thing for stocks of interest before you even bother to import the data.

Note that those last two bullet summaries are just some features that stand out for me personally. Others might find different features to be "most compelling."

Each of these tools has its own way of doing things. Navigation and finding things have their own special twists and you just have to try them out to see which you like best.

It's easy to get information on all three of these tools. The software page at www.better-investing.org provides links to product descriptions for all of them. From there, you can download demonstration versions of any one of these tools. Give them a test drive and decide which one best meets your personal needs.

You can order the software using the order form which appears in every copy of Better Investing or you can order software at the NAIC Online Store.

A member since 1994, Brian Lewis is the President of the Puget Sound Chapter. He's a founding member of BetterInvesting's Online Investor's School and has presented a number of classes online. Brian has taught a variety of classes in the Seattle area since 1999 as well as at the BetterInvesting National Convention, and has published several articles in BITS and BetterInvesting Magazine. He can be contacted at brianle@nwlink.com.