No business can succeed without its owners having some modicum of financial management acumen. Fortunately, we live in a digital age where, for almost every quandary the internet bears the answer. When managing finances, it is imperative to keep up to date with the economic climate. Three websites that can be useful when dealing with finances are Yahoo! Finance, The Economist, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Yahoo! Finance gives the visitor a navigable overview of what’s happening in finance, including a quick look at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as well as financial news. The Economist acts, as the name implies, as one’s personal economist, focusing less on the numbers and more on events that affect them. Finally, the International Monetary Fund is a look at the financial landscape on an international scale.
Yahoo! Finance is more often than not the first stop for anyone doing a quick search for financial information. As soon as you enter the website, the first thing you see is the NYSE at a glance as well as the value of the dollar in the global market. It gives you the option to create your own finance portfolio to keep tabs on the financial activity of specific businesses and potentially manage your stock investments. The website also shows the top stories in finance, which makes it an ideal first stop when doing research.
The Economist reports the latest events that impact the world market. It reads like a newspaper that only reports on the impact of events on economy. As previously stated, the website focuses on the events that shape the production and consumption of goods and services and looks at finance from a social, often political, point of view. The Economist also discusses how cultural and technological events can also influence the market. It is a good resource to have to keep track of events that could potentially affect one’s personal or business finances.
The International Monetary Fund website focuses on the international market. The IMF is an organization that works to maintain global monetary cooperation, achieve financial stability, promote international trade, and reduce poverty globally. Even minor international incidents can have a major impact of the value of the dollar. The website directs you to informational material to better understand what’s happening to the world’s finances and how international relations and events affect the market.
As in other fields, being as informed as possible is the first key to mastering finance.These three websites are essential tools to facilitate one’s understanding of finance and ultimately aid in financial management. They are also three resources that provide varying degrees of information about finance and can satisfy just about any question regard the current state of national and international business.
