Personal Capital goes mobile with new iPad app

Manage your assets on the go

After launching with $25 million six months ago, personal finance website Personal Capital is finally going mobile.  The startup--created by former Intuit and PayPal CEO Bill Harris--announced Wednesday that it will now be available as a free app for the iPad.  

Interestingly, the company doesn't have an iPhone app, but jumped straight to the iPad.  It makes sense when you consider the type of media experience you get with a smartphone and the type you need when navigating Personal Capital, which comes with all sorts of newfangled charts and graphs to show you everything from your cashflow and debt to your asset allocation.  

The image below illustrates exactly why a smartphone would not do the app justice:

That would be a royal pain in the ass to have to scroll around, zoom in, and zoom out to see.  To get a clear idea of where your asset allocation stands, you literally need to see the bigger picture.

Even more interesting (I think) is the fact that you can actually chat with a financial advisor directly within the app using email, iMessage, or FaceTime.  It's like having a financial advisor in your pocket.  Or rather, in your purse/briefcase/man-bag/whatever you carry your iPad in.

The company isn't disclosing how many users it currently has, but does say that it's "in the thousands."  It's currently managing $1 billion in aggregated account assets.

CEO Bill Harris was not immediately available to comment, so it's not clear if/when an Android app will be coming out.  It seems unlikely that Personal Capital would pass up the second best-selling tablet (the Kindle Fire) to stick exclusively with Apple, though.

Personal Capital, which debuted last September, is not your average personal finance site.  The site goes beyond the typical budgeting/debt management angle of most other personal finance sites to provide a unique asset management service for users with more complex financial lives.  In other words, it's primarily for high net-worth users with investments to manage--not for your average financially irresponsible schmuck like yours truly.  You can check out my recent interviews with Bill Harris here.

Personal Capital is backed by IVP and Venrock.