Investment tracking

[HouseofWool]

I don't use Mint or the like because the ING Roth that I have does not download into it. I want to set up a spreadsheet that will allow me to track the individual fund performances over time because it is really hard to figure out how it is doing when all I see is a statement.

So, my question becomes, how do I set up the workbook?

Do I create a sheet for each of the individual funds so I can track their performance individually, with separate sheet in the workbook that shows the overall balance?

So, sheet 1 would pull in the totals from each of the sub sheets. And on each of the subsequent sheets, I could more easily track performance over time?

Thoughts? Sample sheets?

[spotty_dog]

What will you be doing with this information?

My first impulse is to say that if you need that much detail, your brokerage site might have it, but otherwise maybe the full version of Quicken will do it. Manually inputting daily or weekly NAV rates would be pretty crazy making. But that still wouldn't give you your own actual internal rate of return.

[HouseofWool]

Mostly I want to see longer term trends. Statements are quarterly.

[spotty_dog]

Well, I mean, you can go on Morningstar.com to see trends. Still, what will you do with the info?

Do you automatically reinvest dividends or keep them in cash?

Trying to think what I might be able to capture, and how, when I do my weekly or biweekly check-in. Currently I just grab the value of each position and save the total portfolio balance to compare over time. And even that is not super useful since what I really care about is my rate of return which I calculate annually and compare to an appropriate benchmark. Still, I do love data geeking and have thought of keeping more details...will play in excel and looking forward to see what you come up with too!

[HouseofWool]

All dividends are automatically reinvested. I also contribute monthly. I am having a hard time figuring out if the growth I am seeing is due to dividends or my contributions. And I like pretty graphs...

I'm not looking to micromanage it, but I do want to see if any of the funds are under-performing and to ditch them. But, I can't see any patterns because the data isn't aggregated over the long term. On each quarterly statement, I can see only the opening and closing balances for that time period. Not enough information for me.

I think I am going to input each quarterly statement on a sheet, and then have a master that tracks it in a line graph.

This way I can set a template of the fund name and just put in the new numbers each month. Relatively easy and not terribly time consuming once I have the back data entered.

[spotty_dog]

AI'm not looking to micromanage it, but I do want to see if any of the funds are under-performing and to ditch them. But, I can't see any patterns because the data isn't aggregated over the long term. On each quarterly statement, I can see only the opening and closing balances for that time period. Not enough information for me.

Just be wary of the tendency to chase performance. It's a good way to find yourself habitually selling low and buying high. Past performance doesn't guarantee future returns, at all, so ideally you'll want to choose your funds based on a commitment to that fund manager and a desire to hold long-term, or else choose them with a clear picture of what will cause you to bail out (Change of management? Shift in the asset classes held by the fund? Excessive turnover?) *other* than just a slump. Also when evaluating performance, compare to an appropriate benchmark -- if your fund is a small cap blend, don't compare it to the S&P500, you know?

My Fidelity website has a handy chart that shows me whether my growth is coming from contributions or a change in investment value, and shows what my balance would be if not invested, which is a nice graph to look at. Sounds like your spreadsheet will give you the info you want! FWIW, you can also occasionally do the Excel XIRR function to get your internal rate of return -- feeding it beginning and ending balances plus the dates of all contributions, and it will tell you the actual investment growth rate independent of those contributions in a more accurate way than just subtracting them off.

[HouseofWool]

I definitely get holding for the long haul, but if I am seeing a long term trend, it needs to be addressed. I feel like I don't have a way to see all of the info and confirm if there IS a trend.

[HouseofWool]

And by long term, I mean longer than 3-6 months. And it is a fuzzy definition, but if there is an actual slump, I need to be able to see it and then figure out why.

[Vanquisher]

I believe you can put things into mint manually.

[spotty_dog]

In the interest of saving you work, does the Morningstar website or Yahoo Finance have the info you want? Lots of fun charts to play with around there. The "growth of $10K" charts are most likely to take re-invested dividends into account, I think.

[HouseofWool]

Yahoo Finance might do the trick.