If you want to compare your investment performance to the S&P 500, the Dow Jones or the Nasdaq, EquityStat lets you add any of these indexes right onto your performance graph so you can see exactly how your investments compare to an index.
Why Compare Your Portfolio to an Index
Knowing your return in dollars only tells half the story. The real question is whether your money is doing better or worse than the broader market. A benchmark like the S&P 500 index gives you an answer you can actually act on. If your portfolio is falling behind the index quarter after quarter, that is worth investigating. If it is pulling ahead, that is worth understanding too, so you can keep doing what is working.
How to Add an Index to an Investment’s Performance Graph
Adding a benchmark takes just a few clicks.
- View the performance graph for the investment you want to check.
- Click the Indexes drop down menu in the upper left corner of the graph.
- Pick the index or indexes you want to see, choosing from the Dow Jones, the Nasdaq or the S&P 500. You are not limited to just one, so feel free to select more than one if you want a fuller picture.
- A checkmark will appear next to each index you choose, and the index line will show up right alongside your investment’s performance on the graph.
Want to remove an index later? Open the same drop down menu and click the index again. The checkmark will disappear and the line will come off your graph.
When you click on the Indexes drop down menu link, you can choose from a list of indexes.
Choose the Dow Jones index, the Nasdaq index or the S&P 500 index. You can choose one index or multiple indexes. When you choose an index, you will see a checkbox next to the index.
Once an index is chosen, you will see the index in your performance graph and how it compares to your investment’s performance.
To remove an index, click on the Indexes drop down link and select the index again. This will remove the checkbox from the index menu item and remove the index from your performance graph.
How to Compare Your Account or Portfolio to an Index
You are not limited to comparing a single investment. EquityStat also lets you measure your entire account or portfolio against these same benchmarks.
To do this, go to the Tools menu and select Analyze Portfolio. On the Portfolio Analysis page, click the Indexes link above the performance graph and choose whichever index or indexes you would like to compare your portfolio against. Within moments, you will see your combined performance laid out next to the benchmark, so you can judge your overall account/portfolio strategy rather than just one position at a time.
Track More Than Just Price
Comparing your performance to the S&P 500, the Dow Jones or the Nasdaq is one of the simplest ways to know whether your investing approach is actually paying off. Once you have that context, you can make better decisions about what to hold, what to trim and where to put new money to work.
