Strange portfolio performance report

[tomseeley]

Something is occurring in my Portfolio Performance report that I just noticed and don't understand. Without sharing actual data, I'm not sure how easy it'll be to explain what's going on, but I'll try.

I have two funds. In Fund A, I recorded a normal purchase in the amount of $10,785.09. In Fund B, I recorded a normal redemption of $10,785.09. I did not treat either transaction as a transfer in or out.

In the "year to date" performance report for a portfolio containing only these two funds, the individual lines of data for each fund are correct. For Fund A, there is a contribution of $10,785.09 and a withdrawal of $0. For Fund B, there is a withdrawal of $10,785.09 and a contribution of $0.

However, in the "totals" line for the portfolio (which is only these two funds), the contributions and withdrawals totals are both $0 even though, as I said, the individual lines' entries in the contributions and withdrawals columns are correct.

I realize the net effect for the whole portfolio is $0, but isn't it more correct to show the actual totals of all the entries in the contributions and withdrawals columns in each column's totals line? The portfolio totals for all the other columns in the portfolio report do that correctly.

I would add that in the real portfolio, containing more than 20 funds, there are also contributions and withdrawals recorded correctly for many of the other funds, and the portfolio totals do reflect all the proper values in the contributions and withdrawals columns for every other fund except Fund A and Fund B! But even in the portfolio performance report for the real portfolio, even though the contributions and withdrawals for Fund A and Fund B do appear correctle in each fund's data line, the portfolio totals for those columns do NOT include those values.

What am I missing here, please?

Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi tomseeley,

This is the expected behavior. The Contributions/Withdrawals/With-Dist are money added/removed relative to each line in your report. So, for the investment line, it is money added/removed to that investment. For the portfolio line it is money added/removed from the portfolio. When you have a buy and sell for the same amount on the same date within a portfolio, these cancel each other out at the portfolio level. There was no money added/removed to the portfolio. For another example, if you were to buy a stock for cash, you would have a buy of the stock and a sell of cash for the same amount on the same date. At the portfolio level no money was added/removed, so these will be 0 at the portfolio level, but at the stock/cash level you will see the stock had a contribution and the cash had a withdrawal. In your case it was 2 different funds, and this same idea is applied. For more on this, see:

https://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/hel ... _flow.html

[tomseeley]

All right. I get it. I just went back and fiddled with how I had entered all the purchases and sells, and the real portfolio now reflects the portfolio totals for contributions and withdrawals according to your description. And most importantly, I now understand those totals, and they make sense to me, vs. what I knew all along was really happening!

Thank you.