Liberty Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Hey, I'm curious to know what you guys use to keep track of your portfolios, watchlists, and to check out stocks. I know we have a wide range of investors here, so some are probably using Google Finance while others have Bloomberg terminals.. Still, I'm curious about the whole spectrum (particularly curious to know how Parsad does it, actually, because I really like the way he thinks :) ). Let's learn from each others' experience. So what are you using? I'm sure some of you have really polished workflows that others could benefit from. Thanks for sharing! Me: A pretty simple spreadsheet and some Google Finance portfolio watchlists. My main complaint is that the canadian prices are delayed (in practice it doesn't change much since it's not like I'm trading on short-term moves, but it would still be nice to have real-time without having to log into TD Waterhouse). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CONeal Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 I keep my portfolio on google finance this is to help avoid logging into my account and wanting to make an impulse purchases. My watch list is also a google portfolio that has alerts set up via yahoo finance once it reaches 5% of a buy/sell price. Also have a piece of paper next to my sceen with everything I'm interested in written out and why, too see if the reasons are still intact when rummaging through the Internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merkhet Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Portfolio is set up using Google Spreadsheets importing Yahoo Finance quotes. (only because I have no idea how to get warrant quotes on Google Finance.) Watchlist is set up using Google Finance. I jump between Google and Yahoo to check out stocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
augustabound Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 Also have a piece of paper next to my sceen with everything I'm interested in written out and why, too see if the reasons are still intact when rummaging through the Internet. I like that you have it handy. I have a list but not as easily accessible, so it's easy to forget sometimes. Google finance portfolio/watchlist for me also. I also have the excel addin from Randy Harmelink's yahoo group page. The only problem with that group is they can't access Canadian stocks. For those who haven't seen it, it's pretty powerful stuff they've created in this group, led by Randy. (the group's name is smf_addin) Jae Jun creator of Old School Value blog, also uses the same addin for his spreadsheets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
augustabound Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Just an update for anyone who does use the smf addin for their excel spreadsheets. Canadian tickers work if you use the ticker combo for each website, CA:XXX for MSN etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frog03 Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Excel + Qmatix Google Docs does not work well with non North American stock prices (some are included, others not) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinod1 Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Portfolio is set up using Google Spreadsheets importing Yahoo Finance quotes. (only because I have no idea how to get warrant quotes on Google Finance.) Watchlist is set up using Google Finance. I jump between Google and Yahoo to check out stocks. they use the + sign. for example. aig is aig+. wfc is wfc+. bofa has two. bac+a bac+b. Hope you get the idea. If I put in aig+ Google finance is not able to recognize the symbol. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks Vinod Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liberty Posted October 6, 2011 Author Share Posted October 6, 2011 Are you putting it in quote marks? It seems to work here for =GoogleFinance("AIG+") Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross812 Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 I keep track of my performance using Smartmoney.com free portfolio tracker. I use yahoo finance and an SMF excel spreadsheet to research companies. Interactive Brokers for trading ($1 trades) and a small Scottrade account for real time quotes (I’m too cheap to pay IB for real time quotes). I only trade a couple times a month so most of my time is spent on smartmoney watching my portfolio and watchlists. Note on Scottrade vs IB. 2 trades a month in an IRA at Scottrade cost 168/yr. At IB, if I trade 10 or less times per month it costs $120 per yr plus the $30 IRA fee. This allows me to dollar cost average/reinvest dividends without feeling like I’m being eaten alive by fees! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merkhet Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Portfolio is set up using Google Spreadsheets importing Yahoo Finance quotes. (only because I have no idea how to get warrant quotes on Google Finance.) Watchlist is set up using Google Finance. I jump between Google and Yahoo to check out stocks. they use the + sign. for example. aig is aig+. wfc is wfc+. bofa has two. bac+a bac+b. Hope you get the idea. If I put in aig+ Google finance is not able to recognize the symbol. Am I doing something wrong? Thanks Vinod Vinod, it doesn't seem to work through the Google Finance website, but if you're using the =GoogleFinance() function in Google Spreadsheet, it works fine. Thanks peter_burke_ceo -- the =GoogleFinance() function is so much faster and more reliable than =importData() using Yahoo Finance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StubbleJumper Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 +1 for the Google spreadsheets. I open it up in the morning and it happily updates itself all day long. Cheap, portable and easy. SJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Munger_Disciple Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Can you get option quotes inside a Google Spreadsheet using Googlefinance function or any other function? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinod1 Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 Vinod, it doesn't seem to work through the Google Finance website, but if you're using the =GoogleFinance() function in Google Spreadsheet, it works fine. Thanks peter_burke_ceo -- the =GoogleFinance() function is so much faster and more reliable than =importData() using Yahoo Finance. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombgrt Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Anyone else who has problems with Google Finance? It's very slow here and quotations aren't correct half of the time. :-X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCG Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 I'm looking for something that can show your annual returns as a %, including dividends, and compare it to different indexes. Can Google Finance do that? I use Google Finance for quotes and as my main 'watch list', but haven't ever tried entering in actual transaction info. I like how Mint.com imports your info automatically (in theory), but it seems to have issues..doesn't import purchase price..only seems to let you add one purchase price per stock, doesn't look like it takes into account dividends, etc.. I wish my brokerage (scottrade) would just show this info, but they are always about a decade behind on technology. What brokers have great reporting info? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beerbaron Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 I'm looking for something that can show your annual returns as a %, including dividends, and compare it to different indexes. Can Google Finance do that? I use Google Finance for quotes and as my main 'watch list', but haven't ever tried entering in actual transaction info. I like how Mint.com imports your info automatically (in theory), but it seems to have issues..doesn't import purchase price..only seems to let you add one purchase price per stock, doesn't look like it takes into account dividends, etc.. I wish my brokerage (scottrade) would just show this info, but they are always about a decade behind on technology. What brokers have great reporting info? The only way to get the annuanized returns is to use the xIRR function in excel. You need to have the cash flows included in the calculation. BeerBaron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merkhet Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 Has anyone else realized that the warrant symbols in their Google Spreadsheets have recently stopped working? I can no longer get BAC+A to pull directly from Google... anyone have a workaround? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tombgrt Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 I don't use Google Finance anymore to track my portfolio as it can't take notice of buying a foreign currency without actually directly buying a stock in that currency. It already gives an error of 6-7% over a 1-year time span as I bought dollars fiercely when the euro/us dollar pair was at 1.40-1.45. I am using the xIRR function to keep track of my real CAGR over time. I'm thinking of adding a chart of my performance and my benchmark. As I deposit new money on my portfolio regulary, I can't just make a simple chart beginning with my starting capital. I should probably start with a neutral value of 1/100/1000/whatever for both my portfolio and benchmark and then adjust it for achieved CAGR times the numbers of years (and adjusted months and days left). Problem is I would have to keep track of my CAGR on a regular basis, like every month. Am I making this to complicated? Are there better ways to solve this? :P (I don't want to use 'spikes' on my chart indicating capital was added or subtracted.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eclecticvalue Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 Hey Tom, are you using a spreadsheet? If so can you send one to me Pretty please!!! ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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