re; Where do you go to see all your investments in one spot?

[dixonge]

I just discovered the Portfolio Performance tab on Schwab.com - this is the first time I've been able to see the breakdown between contributions and asset return, broken out over various time periods. According to what I just saw I'm averaging 7.88% annual returns since 2017, which is as far back as the records indicate. I guess that's when we set up our Schwab account. 5-year returns are 15.79%, 1-year is 10.12%.

They would be higher if I hadn't made a few individual stock plays here and there...

Contributions are just under 2/3 of our total increase, but glad to know over 1/3 was actual market gains.

 

[disneysteve]

I wished the desktop version did the same....

I had it working for a few listings but many did not.. it is not a feature on desktop..

I’m not sure what you mean. I do this on my desktop iMac in Firefox.

 

[target2019]

For the ones who say, I like to know everything that happened in the last 15-20-30 years...why?
It's similar to several people I know who know every penny they spend, and their portfolio is so much smaller than mine.
I love accuracy, performance, risk-adjusted performance, how to protect my portfolio, when to sell, and when to buy. These are extremely important to me because they make me money and help me avoid most losses. My Schwab 1099 lets me enter everything for taxes in about 5 minutes per year. I can answer any question about my portfolio, the funds I own, and my methodology. I created a site for it. I still don't get why I need to know many small details that don't add value to my general knowledge, my portfolio or save time with taxes.

This is one of the first rules I learned in over 35 years in IT. KISS: don't complicate things unless they help you with your bottom line. Every entrepreneur would tell you that you must know everything that makes you money; busywork is unnecessary overhead. Yes, I'm a retiree with enough time but never for overhead.

Every night around 7 PM, the Schwab site shows me everything in real time. If I have a distribution, by 11 PM it will be updated. BTW, The Fidelity site may take 1-2 days later, but I have a very small percentage there. I don't include my bank account because it changes many times, and it's less than 1% of my portfolio.

Everything you've asked has been answered in the thread. There are different approaches to measuring and managing, and they're all valid and useful in some context.

I happen to prefer mint chocolate chip ice cream but don't presume that everyone's taste is the same. Baskin-Robbins and other companies offer a wide variety of flavors, and someone must be partaking.

Another thought that comes to mind is that there are many roads to Dublin.

 

[Gumby]

For the ones who say, I like to know everything that happened in the last 15-20-30 years...why?
....

Knowledge is never wasted. I was very successful in my career because I knew what I needed to know when I needed to know it.

 

[disneysteve]

I know a lot of folks like to do this sort of thing, but I'm not quite sure WHY.

Why do I want a quick and easy single place to see our entire portfolio in an instant? Why is that even a question? Instead of having to log into multiple accounts, I can quickly open my spreadsheet and see everything in a moment. I certainly dont check daily but it’s great when I do want to check.

 

[yakers]

We have 3 sources of investment funds, each month I download them to a spread sheet and share them with DW. Really easy and all the info we need, keep EOY records back to 2006 so can see longer picture. Works for us.

 

[HappilyRetired]

I know a lot of folks like to do this sort of thing, but I'm not quite sure WHY. I did toy with a spreadsheet that updated ETF and MF values a few years back but then stopped doing it once I decided it was a waste of time.

I have my Roth IRA, tIRA, and taxable accounts at Vanguard and can access current values of those holdings with a thumb press on my smartphone app. Similarly with my remaining 403(b) holdings at TIAA.

It helps that my AA is 95+% stocks, no bond holdings, so I never need to rebalance.

If I'm curious how my various ETFs are performing, I go to etfreplay.com (or similar) and plot YTD total return of VOO, VGT, MGK, QQQ, VXF, etc. I don't need to know how many shares of each that I own.

When it comes to actionable events, such a spreadsheet wouldn't help.
I log into my Vanguard account to examine unrealized losses to decide whether to TLH.
I also log into my Vanguard account to set up limit orders to invest accumulated dividends and new money in taxable. Not at all clear how a spreadsheet listing my total portfolio would add value to that process.

So, maybe ponder your reasons for wanting to do this...

I like to see how my accounts grow or decline. I like to see the daily stock prices updated in real time. I like to manually add other accounts that I would never link a url to. When the market is down, I can yell to my husband how much on paper we are losing! haha

 

[CalBird]

If you never got chance to check the account balance until today, you probably tell yourself, hmm, not much change since the beginning of the year, market seems very quiet.

 

[threeonesix]

Spreadsheet I've used for 30 years. It's much easier than you think. It's also a great way to to run a living budget. After having done this now for so long it's incredibly accurate. Every year I save a static copy. That same day I look back to one year ago, two years ago, etc., "today" to see if my balances, other than variable rate investments, are close to what was predicted that day in previous years; it's always within a couple hundred dollars per year at most. So now I trust it wholeheartedly. If you can budget a year in advance and stay within a couple hundred dollars you're doing something right. This is how I am confident that I know when I will be able to comfortably retire.

 

[Jimq]

Google sheets are very easy to use as someone suggested and provided the formula. However I did find few tickers not pulling the right price. For me it is MTUM and USMV, I adjusted the two line items at the bottom of sheet by adding or subtracting for each as needed.

 

[fh2000]

I keep a spreadsheet and I update it manually every Saturday morning while I drink coffee. It takes me about 10 minutes to aggregate. When DW wakes up, it is the first thing she asks: "what is our balance this week?". I give her the total number and she leaves me alone for another week.

 

[MrMikeCT]

I use a not so simple spread sheet I developed years ago. Since most of investments are at Fidelity, that helps simplify the process.

 

[Waynew]

Because we keep all of our investment assets at Fidelity, I can download a positions file from either the web or from Fidelity's Active Trader Pro. Then, in about 15 minutes I can analyze the portfolio for both positions and estimated annual income using filters or pivot tables. Here, for example, is the chart from my Excel pivot table. It helps me think critically about our investment mix. The possibilities are endless once you understand how to use a pivot table. I can do the same with position downloads from Seeking Alpha.

 

[user5027]

I use both yahoo and an excel spreadsheet. I have never paid for yahoo.

I manually update each monthly. Forces me to "reconcile" my brokerage accounts on a regular basis. Excel is only account balances at monthly ends. Yahoo is holdings and is not linked to my brokerage. Yahoo gives me the ability to see my portfolio in real time on pc and phone. I update on a weekend while markets are closed to avoid values moving.

 

[tizod]

Thanks! I may look into that. I'm not a big fan of notes or numbers though I've been able to make them w*rk for most things.

Numbers works great, and go to MacMost for tutorials - some free and more advanced small charge for. I like it because the formatting is really easy allowing multiple tables and text documents side by side. Once you get used to it the restriction of excel is a bear for complex dashboards etc. Even for the easy ones...check out some of the finacial templates already in Numbers - like the net worth. It's great, free and already done for you. You can customize it and grow it quite easily.

 

[dirtbiker]

Like many on here, I made my own spreadsheet, and I updated it very regularly. I round my values to the nearest $500 for each account, just to make it less messy, and easier to manually input.