Finance
Written by Walt Hickey
2013-07-14T22:39:00Z
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As we've discussed, Wolfram Alpha is a fantastic website that knows basically everything.
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But one way that people don't use it enough is when it comes to money.
If you work in finance, play in stocks, invest, have a mortgage, or pay taxes, Wolfram Alpha is here to make your life better.
It's got incredibly detailed data for thousands of companies and if you work in finance it better be a bookmark if you want to make those back of the napkin calculations cake.
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1. Wolfram Alpha is full of comprehensive information about companies and stocks.
Here, we can see Boeing's (NYSE:BA) fundamentals.
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We can also check out details on the stock ratios.
We can check out the company's annual balance sheet.
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We can see fast data from the company's income statement for the past 12 months, as well as quarterly.
We can take a fast look at company cash flow.
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Wolfram Alpha also has a ton of data about the company's performance.
It even will tell you what analysts are saying about the stock with a full breakdown of opinions.
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It lets you compare the performance of the stock to competitors in its field — like General Dynamics and Lockheed Martin for Boeing — as well as baseline asset performance.
It's full of analysis on the stock's past performance.
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It also can produce projections for future stock performance.
Plus it's a trove of data about company leadership.
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And it will also show you how much skin the executives have in the game.
2. The best part is, you can also use it to compare different stocks and companies.
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3. It's full of historical stock information, like this chart that will make you wish you made a certain stock pick 13 years ago
4. Wolfram Alpha will let you compare data points from different companies, like this chart about one of the most fascinating rivalries in the history of tech.
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5. You can even plug in your portfolio to find out what it's worth and historical value.
6. You can compare analyst ratings of two different companies.
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7. You can also look to the past and see what analysts were thinking over time.
8. It's not just companies and stocks, though. You can look at indices, commodities, and plenty of other assets.
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9. You can look at — and compare — mutual fund performance.
10. You can plug in any commodity to find out price and history.
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11. You can compare historical monetary exchange rates.
12. Wolfram Alpha has an excellent calculator to price interest rates.
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13. It can even help you analyze your adjustable rate mortgage.
It will provide a full analysis of annual payments for the whole course of the debt.
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You can see how much of your money was spent on interest over time.
14. Naturally, it also works with fixed rate mortgages.
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15. You can do all sorts of calculations with bond pricing.
It can spit out any info you want about bonds.
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16. The same thing goes for options pricing.
Wolfram Alpha is a must-have asset for anyone working in finance, just for those back-of-the-napkin calculations.
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17. You can generate tons of plots as a function of underlying price.
18. Wolfram Alpha will help you figure out your taxes, too.
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Just tell it your Adjusted Gross Income to get all sorts of calculations about what you'll probably owe.
It'll even estimate your deductions.
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It can tell you all sorts of information abut U.S. taxation.
19. Are you in the online ad business? Well, Wolfram Alpha can help you.
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20. If you eat out with friends, pull out your phone to figure out how to split the check.
Of course it can figure out how much you need to tip.
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21. Plug in your annual salary and it'll tell you how much you're worth per hour.
22. Or if you work hourly, it'll tell you how much you'll make in a year.
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23. And if you want to find out which city is really killing you on sales tax, of course you can find out on Wolfram Alpha.
32 Tricks You Can Do With Wolfram Alpha, The Most Useful Site In The History Of The Internet
Deputy Editor, Data and Analysis, Insider
Walt is Insider's Deputy Editor for Data and Analysis. Hickey is the author of You Are What You Watch,and also writes Numlock News, a daily morning newsletter. He came from FiveThirtyEight where he was chief culture writer. Walt previously worked at Business Insider from 2012 to 2013, and graduated from The College of William and Mary with a degree in Applied Mathematics. In additon to his work on elections and data journalism, he also edits comics at Business Insider.In 2022, Hickey won the Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting for his work on Business Insider's I Escaped A Chinese Internment Camp documenting the plight of Uyghurs in China.
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