Improved Investment Tracking Spreadsheet

Written by

Jae Jun

[edit] Newer Version Now Available

I’ve just released a new and updated version of the best free stock portfolio tracker spreadsheet. Go check it out now.

Continuing on with the Original Article

The investment tracking spreadsheet I posted previously didn’t account for cash but I finally found a way to accommodate the portion of cash in a portfolio.

I ‘m no designer but I do understand the golden rule of keeping things simple. So if I create a tool where I have to enter more than 2 or 3 pieces of information to get started, it’s already too complicated and needs to be refined.

This is why I always had difficultly implementing a portfolio tracking spreadsheet that took into account cash.

But I finally found a sweet mutual fund portfolio tracker that I’ve modified slightly and implemented into my own tracking spreadsheet.

The new addition tracks the portfolio in the form of an index. So you no longer have to display your total portfolio value and holdings.

The only pieces of information you have to enter into the additional tab is the value of the portfolio holdings and how much cash you have. It then calculates the return of your portfolio and the S&P or Russell 2000 index based on a starting value of 100.

This data is then graphed in the Google Finance timeline gadget as shown below. The comments are optional but it will also show on the right side as well.

A great way to monitor portfolio milestones.

How to Use

The only thing you have to consider is how often you plan to update this index. I’ve set it to once a week and I did this real quick by entering a starting date (1/4/2009) and then the next date I want to update (1/11/2009).

Then you just highlight the two cells, and drag the bottom right corner box and it will magically list the dates in a 1 week sequence.

And the dates are for 2009 to just show you how it works.

This isn’t a time weighted return so it lacks in that aspect so if you have any ideas, let me know so that I can make the updates.

Go here for the investment tracking spreadsheet. The method to copy it to your own account is detailed in the previous post.