# How do you monitor your investments?



## alisonb (Apr 3, 2009)

What program would you suggest using to monitor your investments? 
I'm looking for something that will let me set up an automatic purchase plan for Canadian mutual funds, then I can go in periodically to check and see how they're doing and make adjustments as necessary. I was using Morningstar, but they've changed things and I don't find it's as easy to use anymore. 
TIA,
Arlene


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## CanadianCapitalist (Mar 31, 2009)

alisonb said:


> What program would you suggest using to monitor your investments?
> I'm looking for something that will let me set up an automatic purchase plan for Canadian mutual funds, then I can go in periodically to check and see how they're doing and make adjustments as necessary. I was using Morningstar, but they've changed things and I don't find it's as easy to use anymore.
> TIA,
> Arlene


I use Google Docs to monitor my portfolio. It works well for the types of securities I own (mostly ETFs). There might be a little bit more work involved if you do frequent transactions.

http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/portfolio-snapshot-with-google-docs/


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## balexis (Apr 4, 2009)

I use the portfolio tool from the Globe and mail: http://portfoliodb.theglobeandmail.com/

It allows automatic purchases of many canadian funds. The only thing I can't make it do is to properly track other investments such as GICs and high-interest savings account. More specifically, I did not find the way to manually enter the interests paid, I can only update the market value, which does not show the real gain in the performance graphs. If anyone has a solution I'd be glad to hear it!


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## RealizedReturns (Oct 16, 2010)

I use a google docs spreadsheet too.. I've also set up my portfolio on Google Finance so I can see how things are going at a glance. It isn't ideal for mutual funds, however.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

I do not track my investments online.
I have set up a simple spreadsheet that lists all the securities.
I update the market values periodically - usually once a month.
It automatically calculates total return %, IRR% and a few other metrics I track.

I tried the online tools like Morningstar for a while - they are all good but none of them do exactly what you want.
Everyone'e needs are different, so I decided to do my own.
Mine is simple (for me) and very customized to what I need.


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## Sherlock (Apr 18, 2010)

I log in to my accounts and check my balances.


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

globe and mail, as mentioned above.


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

A combination of spreadsheets and on-line banking account. i used to use Globefund. But it appears that Globefund now requires a paid subscription if you want access to portfolios. As I am no longer obsessive about tracking my funds I have no interest in paying them.


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## Dana (Nov 17, 2009)

I guess we're old school - we use Excel spreadsheets. I update quarterly (we trade very infrequently) and the spreadsheets are set up to compare quarter over quarter, year over year and since inception.


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## I'm Howard (Oct 13, 2010)

RBC Direct have a great feature, you outline your goals, it then analyses your portfolio, compares it to a Model, then specifically, by asset class, they direct where you need rebalancing.

RBC Updates your accounts every 15 minutes.

I think this is great for a rookie Investor who has an FA, it will allow you to see whether your needs were being met.

One account was supposed to be a Conservative Portfolio for mid 60's millionaires, turned out to be 70% stocks, 30% Bonds.


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## larry81 (Nov 22, 2010)

Quicken and TDWH WebBroker


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## olivaw (Nov 21, 2010)

I use Globefund (Globe and Mail) as above. There is a limited free service and a feature rich paid service. I use the free because it does everything I need.


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## Ben (Apr 3, 2009)

I monitor investment balances in Excel, forming part of the net worth calculation. I don't keep track of investment returns, as everything is indexed and it's gonna be what's it's gonna be.


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