Returns year to date

[bltkmt]

I have used Quicken for years, but am not clear how to have it show my overall return...can someone assist?

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bltkmt I have used Quicken for years, but am not clear how to have it show my overall return...can someone assist?

Reports>Investing>Investment Performance

[grasshopper]

In Quicken 10
1) go to portfolio view,
2) to customize view,
3) add or subtract what you want from left column to right column.
4) Avg. annual return % YTD is the one you want,
5) total at the bottom.

[walkinwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 67walkon What sort of returns are you guys seeing year to date on your investment accounts? I just met with the guy from one of those brokerage firms you guys don't like and our returns are in the 9-10% range for the year. When I retire next year, I haven't decided whether to stay with them or pull everything and go to Vanguard or something. It would be interesting to know what sort of returns smarter, more experienced people are getting. Thanks.

An investment return figure without information on asset allocation will not give you good information for comparisons. Your portfolio may be more aggressive or conservative than others.

Also, is your guy's annual fee already included in the return?

[LakeTravis]

Per Vanguard, I'm at 12.3%

[Rustward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grasshopper In Quicken 10 1) go to portfolio view, 2) to customize view, 3) add or subtract what you want from left column to right column. 4) Avg. annual return % YTD is the one you want, 5) total at the bottom.

Is that the year to date return after it has been annualized?

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustward Is that the year to date return after it has been annualized?

The return is the IRR that equates the beginning market value as a cash outflow and the actual cash flows for the period to the ending value and is stated as an annual rate of return for the period.

Or put more simply, it is an annualized return.

[Rustward]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski The return is the IRR that equates the beginning market value as a cash outflow and the actual cash flows for the period to the ending value and is stated as an annual rate of return for the period. Or put more simply, it is an annualized return.

Thanks for the clarification.

Please note that the OP was asking for YTD, which is something different. I am not sure that everybody realizes the difference.

As the end of the year approaches, the difference diminishes, but in early months of the year it can be quite large.

[LOL!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustward Thanks for the clarification. Please note that the OP was asking for YTD, which is something different. I am not sure that everybody realizes the difference. As the end of the year approaches, the difference diminishes, but in early months of the year it can be quite large.

That's exactly right. I noticed with my mom's Quicken that it always annualized the return, so when she had 5% YTD return in June, she was very happy with 10% and "beating the market".

With less than 6 weeks to go for 2012, such "annualizing" will add about 10% to one's peformance, so instead of a 9% return, one will get about a 10% return.

To correct for the quirks of Quicken, put the date range in as 1/1/2012 to 12/31/2012. Or in MSMoney use "Current Year".

[NW-Bound]

For YTD return of the entire portfolio, I just take the ratio of its present value and the value at 1/1/2012. If I had $100, and now have $105, that's 5% YTD return. If I spent $2 out of that $100, then I would have $107 if I did not spend. My return would be 7% YTD.

To look at individual stocks and MF returns in Quicken, I use its "ROI" reporting rather than its "Return" reporting. Correct me if I am wrong, but Quicken ROI calculations include dividends, while its "Return" calculations only look at capital gains. Hence, the ROI numbers are either higher or the same as the Return numbers. Some of my stocks, ETFs, and MFs pay quarterly dividends, some annual dividends.

Quicken reports ROI's for YTD, last 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years. The longer period reporting may tell a bit more about how an investment fares over time, and its consistency.

[gomo]

As of yesterday 16.9% YTD. All stocks, no bonds. Includes dividends. Not including deposits made during this time. Of course it was higher before the election, but this little down turn created some nice reinvestment opportunities.

[obgyn65]

Wow. That is truly impressive. Congratulations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gomo As of yesterday 16.9% YTD. .

[NW-Bound]

I have a correction to make regarding Quicken's reporting of investment performance.

When I said the "Return" reporting numbers from Quicken did not include dividends, I meant its "Gain/Loss" numbers. The "Avg. Annual Return" and the "Return" columns do include dividends. I think the former uses IRR calculations, but am not sure how the latter is computed. Quicken even leaves the "Return" columns of some of my MF and stock positions blank, and I do not know what that is all about.

The "Gain/Loss", "ROI", "Avg. Ann. Return", and "Return" numbers are offered for time periods of YTD, 1 year, 3 years, and 5 years. For YTD numbers, the "Av. Ann. Return" number is annualized, as LOL observed. This extrapolates the return YTD to the rest of the year, which is of course not that meaningful as the market could easily change a couple of % in just a few days, even if these days are at the end of the year.

I prefer to use the "ROI YTD" because it shows the true YTD gain, and does not annualize or project it to the year end.

I apologize for any confusion my earlier post might have caused.

[John Galt III]

up 4 percent since Jan 1, 2012. 80 percent in Stable Value, 20 percent in stocks, corporate bonds, and commodities.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rustward Thanks for the clarification. Please note that the OP was asking for YTD, which is something different. I am not sure that everybody realizes the difference. As the end of the year approaches, the difference diminishes, but in early months of the year it can be quite large.

+1 but a YTD return can be expressed as an annualized return or nominal. It is easy to convert one to the other.

If you include cash flow in the calc as you should then IMO an annualized return is more relevant but you can convert an annualized return to a YTD return as [(1+x)^y] - 1 where x is the annualized return and y is the time in the period in years.

[redtail]

My wife's thru Vanguard 11.5%
Mine thru Fidelity 10.40
Both have a asset allocation of 40/60.

[almost there]

12.1% ytd. Had 100% in the 1st three months, got out when the S&P went over 1400. Then just in and out with 20-30%.
Just got back in after the election with 40% stocks (up 4% in a couple weeks) Will probably bail if we have a big day next week & start over. 60% still cash. Been in SCHA & SCHX this year.
Not what most would agree with, but I was very relaxed being out of the market most of the year. And still have a nice return.
(Just checked, the 12.1% does not include Fridays 1.3% bump)

[ikubak]

13.2% 90/10 allocation (more or less)

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 Per M* Portfolio tracker tool, total return YTD = 8.23 % current AA = 32/65/3 VEUSX, VWALX, and VTSAX are leading the way...

9.83 % as of this posting.
AA = 33/64/3
All distributions are reinvested except TE dividends from VWALX are currently going to VYFXX (NY TE money market) to rebuild cash recently pulled to buy used Ford Escape.

VEUSX, VTSAX are vying for position to go into the final stretch, with VHDYX, VWALX, and VBIAX close on their heels.

I feel like I'm calling a horse race.

[LeavingOhio]

Well, I went through all of the responses and I thought I was going to be the leader (which surprised me) until I saw gomo's. I think I'm second at 14.9%.

I have 13% bonds and the rest in stocks.

My holdings are split unevenly in three different places - Fidelity, Vanguard, and American Funds.