Forum Archive Index - September 2003

["Darryl Lundy" <Darryl.Lundy@telecom.co.nz>]

I just use Microsoft Money, and find that it can report ROI adequately over any 
period you want (individually and across the portfolio(s) e.g. across shares, 
bonds, property, NZ account, US account, etc).

Big downside however is that Microsoft have ever seen fit to implemently 
automatic price updating for the NZSE (just ASX).
I understand that Quicken does a better job of capturing NZ prices.

The other negative to Money that irritates me a lot is that it doesn't track 
changes in exchange rates very well - you can tack individual accounts or 
investments in whatever exchange you need, but it translates these into the 
local rate (NZD) at the current exchange rate.  It does not keep a history of 
the previous exchange rates, but uses the current rate for all of the 
historical calculations.  This makes a mockery of the returns reported for 
investments in other currencies.
For example, if you bought Ford last month for US$20, at an exchange rate of 
0.50, then sold it this month for US$60 at an exchange rate of 0.60, Money will 
report a return of 200% [US$60 / US$20 -1], instead the correct gain of 
150%[($60/0.60) / ($20/0.50) -1] - you actually made 200% on the stock, but 
lost 50% on the exchange rate.

Thinking about it, I would probably switch tomorrow to something better if I 
could (a) find something which addresses the two flaws above (without 
introducing new ones) (b) automatically convert 10 years worth of data.

Regards
Darryl

___________________________________
Darryl Lundy
Senior Investment Manager
Telecom Corporation of New Zealand Ltd
68 Jervois Quay, Level 3
Wellington, NEW ZEALAND
Ph: +64 4 498-5577  Fax: +64 4 473-5468
Mob: 027 4577-699


-----Original Message-----
From: James Pullen [mailto:james@embedded.co.nz]
Sent: Monday, 8 September 2003 14:46
To: sharechat@sharechat.co.nz
Subject: [sharechat] portfolio tracking software?


What do people on the list use to track the performance of your portfolio? 
Can anyone recommend a particular piece of software? I would like something 
which lets you enter details of trades, dividends, stock splits, bonus 
issues etc, and calculate overall performance (at least ROI) over arbitrary 
date ranges of both individual shares and a whole portfolio.

I'm thinking of something along the lines of the herald's stockwatch 
portfolio service, but a bit more sophisticated. A quick google search 
turns up quite a few, just wondering if anyone has any recommendations?



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