Yahoo Finance Portfolio Manager Changes

Posted on | by equitystat

Recently, Yahoo Finance has changed their investment portfolio manager.  At one time Yahoo Finance portfolio manager was one of the best web portfolio managers. If you were a previous user of Yahoo Finance portfolio and are looking for an alternative, consider EquityStat’s portfolio manager.

EquityStat has many of the same features that the Yahoo Finance portfolio manager has. You can easily see the current value of your portfolio and individual investments based on the current stock price.  Like Yahoo, EquityStat allows you to track and manage your stocks, mutual funds and ETFs investments.

EquityStat Stock Portfolio Manager
Stock Portfolio Manager Screen Shot

There are a lot of differences between EquityStat’s and Yahoo’s portfolio manager too. Here are some of the features found in EquityStat’s portfolio manager that you won’t find in Yahoo’s portfolio manager.

  • Easily see how your portfolio is performing.
    At the top of your portfolio you can easily see your total portfolio value, the total return and the gain for the day.  You don’t have to click around to find this information, it is the first thing you see when you login to your account.
  • Create Multiple Portfolios.
    Separate your investments into multiple portfolios such as your personal portfolio and 401K.  You can track the performance of each portfolio and track your account’s overall performance.
  • A lot less scrolling.
     Our portfolio manager makes the most of your screen space.  As you expand or contract your browser window your portfolio manager does too.  No more scrolling around to see all of your portfolio’s data.
  • Performance calculations for each investment, your portfolios and the overall account.
    For each investment you can see the current market value, the overall gain of the investment, today’s gain, the annualized return and many more calculations.  These performance metrics are also available at the portfolio and account level.
  • Easily view, add, edit and delete transactions for each investment.
    All of your transactions for each investment are grouped together which you can easily view, add, edit and delete.
  • Filter out your sold investments.
    Easily show and hide your sold investments which gives you a historical view of your portfolio or a view of your currently held investments.
  • Change the columns displayed in your portfolio.
    Add and remove the columns you want to display in your portfolio.  For example, if you want to show an investment’s 52 week high or low you can easily add this data column to your portfolio.
  • Import your investments from a spreadsheet or comma separated variable file (csv file).
    If you have your investment transactions in a spreadsheet, you can easily import them into your portfolio without having to manually enter all your transactions.
  • Generate tax forms for sold investments.
    If you have sold any stocks you can generate IRS Form 8949 which your tax preparer needs to calculate your capital gain taxes.
  • Export your investment transactions for safekeeping.
    With EquityStat you can easily export your transactions to a spreadsheet file which will give you a permanent backup of your data.
  • 24 hour 7 day a week support.
    Have a question or need help? Just send an email to our support staff.
  • View on any computer or device.
    View your portfolio on your computer, tablet or mobile phone.
  • Simple with a singular focus.
    EquityStat’s goal is to provide a powerful yet simple to use portfolio manager.  Our focus is not about generating page views or driving traffic to news pages.

If you want to switch from Yahoo’s portfolio manager to EquityStat, we can help you import your data from Yahoo.  Just contact EquityStat’s support staff here and we can get you started with EquityStat.

EquityStat and Taxes

Posted on | by equitystat

It’s that dreaded time of year – tax time. EquityStat’s portfolio manager has several tools to help investors with their taxes.

If you sold any shares last year, you can use EquityStat to generate IRS Form 8949.  IRS Form 8949 is a form that shows your short-term  and long-term capital gains on any investment sale.  EquityStat will automatically calculate these capital gains.  It will then generate a PDF of Form 8949 with all needed information that the IRS requires.  You can then give this form to your tax preparer when you are preparing your taxes.  To generate IRS Form 8949, click the Tools menu and then choose the Generate Form 8949 menuitem.

Use EquityStat To Print IRS Form 8949
IRS Form 8949 Example

Another tool to help you with your taxes is the ability to export your investment’s transactions to a spreadsheet. To export your transactions, click the Tools menu and then choose the Export Transactions menuitem. When you export your transactions, you will get a spreadsheet showing each transaction for the investment including the type of transaction it is (e.g. Buy, Sell, Dividend, etc). With this information, your tax preparer can calculate your taxable capital-gains and taxable dividends for all of your investments.

2016 8949 IRS Tax Form Released

Posted on | by equitystat

We just released the 2016 8949 IRS tax forms.  IRS Form 8949 is a form that reports your short and long term gains for any sold investments in the tax year.  You can give Form 8949 to your tax preparer which assists in preparing Schedule D on your tax return.  To generate Form 8949 click the Tools menu and choose the “Generate Form 8949” menuitem.

Print IRS Form 8949 with EquityStat's Investment Portfolio Manager
IRS Form 8949

Worst Stock of 2016

Posted on | by equitystat

According to the Wall Street Journal the worst S&P 500 stock of 2016 was Endo International.  It was down 73%.

You can see the list of worst stocks here:

http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2016/12/30/5-worst-performers-in-the-sp-500-in-2016/

How did your investments do in 2016?  What was your worst stock?  If you are not tracking your investment’s performance, consider using EquityStat.  With EquityStat you can track the overall performance of your portfolio/account as well as the performance of each individual investment.  EquityStat tracks the annualized return, year to date return, daily gain, overall gain and many other metrics of your investments.  With these metrics you can easily determine what are your best investments.

Many online brokerages and mutual funds track an individual stock or mutual fund’s performance but you cannot get the overall return of all your stocks or mutual funds.  With EquityStat not only can you get the return each investment, you can also get the return for your entire account.  This way you know how well your investments are performing at any time.

Best Stock of 2016

Posted on | by equitystat

According to the Wall Street Journal the best S&P 500 stock of 2016 was Nvdia.  It was up 224%.

You can see the list of best stocks here:

http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2016/12/30/5-best-performers-in-the-sp-500-in-2016/

How did your investments do in 2016?  What was your best stock?  If you are not tracking your investment’s performance, consider using EquityStat.  With EquityStat you can track the overall performance of your portfolio/account as well as the performance of each individual investment.  EquityStat tracks the annualized return, year to date return, daily gain, overall gain and many other metrics of your investments.  With these metrics you can easily determine what are your best investments.

Many online brokerages and mutual funds track an individual stock or mutual fund’s performance but you cannot get the overall return of all your stocks or mutual funds.  With EquityStat not only can you get the return each investment, you can also get the return for your entire account.  This way you know how well your investments are performing at any time.

 

 

 

New Feature – Cash Transactions

Posted on | by equitystat

We have recently added a new feature.   You can now add cash transactions to your portfolio.  To add a cash transaction, click the New menu and then choose the “New Cash Transaction” menuitem from the drop down menu.  In the popup dialog, add the date of the cash transaction and the amount of the transaction.

Add Cash to Your EquityStat Portfolio
Add Cash To Your Investment Portfolio

Once you have added a cash transaction, any non-reinvested dividends added to your other investments will be added to your cash.

How did your investments perform in 2016?

Posted on | by equitystat

How did your investments do in 2016?  What was your best stock?  What was your worst?

If you are not tracking your investment’s performance, consider using EquityStat.  With EquityStat you can track the overall performance of your portfolio as well as the performance of each individual investment.  EquityStat tracks the annualized return, daily gain, overall gain and many other metrics of your investments.  With these metrics you can easily determine what are your best investments and what are your worst investments.

EquityStat Financial Portfolio Analysis
Portfolio Analysis Example

In addition EquityStat provides an analysis of your account and portfolios.  With our account/portfolio analysis you can get a graphical and tableuare view of the performance of your investments.  For example, you can see the performance of your account/portfolio overtime.  Using the account/portfolio analysis you can also see which investments were your best performing investments and which investments were your least performing investments.

Portfolio Analysis – New Feature

Posted on | by equitystat

We have recently added a new feature.   You can now get an analysis of  your account and portfolios.  To perform a portfolio analysis click the Tools menu and choose Analyze Portfolio from the drop down menu.

EquityStat Investment Portfolio Analysis
Stock Portfolio Analysis Page

Our portfolio analysis feature provides you an performance overview of your account/portfolio.  You can easily see how your account/portfolio is performing over time, the holdings in your account/portfolio and performance metrics for each investment in your account/portfolio.

If you have multiple portfolios, the analysis page will first display how your entire account is performing.  You can see performance metrics for each individual portfolio and a graph showing the growth of your account over time.  In addition you can see your account’s investment holdings and a ranking of each investment return.  The analysis will also provide performance metrics on each investment.  You can see which investment is your best/lowest for the day, quarter and the year.  A list of your best investments and a list of your lowest investments is also provided.

If you want to see an analysis of each individual portfolio click on the portfolio name in the portfolio summary table.  You will then be shown an analysis for that portfolio.  You will get the same graphs and performance metrics that were provided on the account level, but for the individual portfolio.

If you only have one portfolio, by default you will be shown the analysis for your only portfolio.

5 Frequently Asked Questions About EquityStat’s Portfolio Manager

Posted on | by equitystat

5 Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How do I add a new investment?
    Click the New Menu and then choose New Investment from the dropdown menuitem.  A popup dialog will appear where you can add your new investment.
  2. How do I add/remove a portfolio column?
    Click the Options Menu and then choose Change Columns from the dropdown menuitem.  The Change Columns panel will appear.  To add a column select the column from the Available Columns list and click the Add button to add it to the Displayed Columns list.  To remove a column select the column from the Displayed Columns list and click the Remove button to remove it from the Displayed Columns list.  Click the Change button to save your columns.

    EquityStat Investment Portfolio Change Performance Metric Columns
    Change Stock Portfolio Columns
  3. How do I change the order of the displayed columns?
    Click the Options menu and choose the Change Columns dropdown menuitem.  The Change Columns panel will appear.  Select the column you want to change from the Displayed Columns list.  Use the up/down arrows on the right to change the order.   When finished click the Change button to save your changes.
  4. How do I sort the portfolio by Investment name?  How do I sort any column in the portfolio?
    To sort your portfolio by investment name, click on the Name column heading.  To sort any columns, such as Market Value, click on the column heading.  Clicking on the column heading will also toggle the sort between ascending and descending order.
  5. How do I sell an investment?
    To sell an investment add a “Sell” transaction.  To add a “Sell” Transaction, first select the investment you want to sell.  Next click the Add button in the Transactions section.  A popup panel will appear.  Enter your date, choose “Sell” from the Activity dropdown and enter how many shares you sold and the price you sold them at.  Click the Add button to save your changes.

    EquityStat Stock Market Portfolio Add Transaction
    Add Transaction Directions