Creating 'link to' sub portfolio hierarchy

[modelerMike]

Good day,

I am trying to set up a portfolio hierarchy using ‘link to’ sub-portfolios.

Desired structure;

master portfolio
actual accounts
acct01
acct02
strategies
strategy01

acct01 and acct02 have many securities
but i want ‘strategy01’ portfolio
to link to acct01 and acct02 in order
to link 1 security from acct01 and 1 security from acct02
such that ‘strategy01’ has 2 securities

i.e.

strategy01
sec15 from acct01
sec22 from acct02

EVERY TIME I create this hierarchy
and get to the point where i go to the ‘strategy01’
portfolio properties in order link acct01 and acct02 to the ‘strategy01’ sub-portfolio
FM creates the link BUT sets the link to the ‘strategies’ portfolio and REMOVES ?????
the strategy01 sub-portfolio ????????????????
( i tried this 3 times carefully selecting the desired portfolio to operate on )

I can do this by simply copying acct01 and acct02 securities of choice into the
strategy01 portfolio so i can create separate reports on these chosen acct01 and acct02 securities but thought doing it with links would allow the stratey01 sub-portfolio to always access the latest updates and state of sec15 in acct01 and sec22 in acct02 .

Any idea what i am doing wrong or is this a bug ?
Guidance appreciated.

[Mark]

Hi modelerMike,

Link sub-portfolios link to an entire other sub-portfolio. You cannot pick out just one or two investments within a sub-portfolio to link to, you are linking to the whole sub-portfolio. You can do this:

Code: Select all

master portfolio
     actual accounts
         acct01
         acct02
     strategies
         strategy01
             acct01 (Link)
             acct02 (Link)

where everything shown above is a regular sub-portfolio, except the sub-portfolios with "(Link)" at the end. These are sub-portfolios that link over to acct01 and acct02. Each link sub-portfolio can only be linked to 1 sub-portfolio. You cannot create a single sub-portfolio that links to 2 arbitrary sub-portfolios. When you report on "strategy01" it will include everything in acct01 and acct02. Whenever acct01 or acct02 changes, these changes are automatically reflected in any other sub-portfolios linking to them.

I'm not sure what is happening with your linking going to the "strategies" sub-portfolio, or how you are attempting to link "strategy01" with both acct01 and acct02, as this is not possible. If you still have questions, maybe you can post a couple screen shots showing the hierarchy, and what is happening.

[modelerMike]

Thanks for your view on this issue Mark ....
I never tried to link 'strategy01' to the actual account portfolios acct01 & acct02.
In the hierarchy you presented here; i don't really see any benefit in linking entire actual portfolios as strategy01 sub-portfolios if individual securities can't be selected that are unique to what strategy01 represents; if i was setting up like this i wouldn't bother ...
don't see the point .. am i missing something here ?

I guess whenever i want to select a subbset of acct01 and acct02 securities
that represent separate strategies i well simply copy the individual securities from acct01 and act02 into the strategy01 portfolio and run separate reports that way .....
although every time i want such a report i'll have to re-copy the actual securities into the strategy01 sub-portfolio in order to get reports for strategy01 with the latest transactions and pricing.

Bottom line; i can dump the actual portfolio reports into excel and parse by strategy on my own; no biggy.
I've also considered representing 'strategies' via user-defined goal settings and then use goal to create 'strategy' reports.

Thanks again Mark

[Mark]

Hi modelerMike,

Link sub-portfolios can be very handy, but they can't be used to grab out individual investments. They are links to sub-portfolios, not investments.

Using the Asset Type or Investment Goal categories sounds like it may be the best solution.

You could also set up your sub-portfolios such that using links makes better sense. For example, here is one way you could do it:

Code: Select all

- Master
  - All Accounts
    - Account 1
      - AC1-Strategy A
      - AC1-Strategy B
    - Account 2
      - AC2-Strategy A
      - AC2-Strategy B
  - Strategies
    - Strategy A
      - Link to AC1-Strategy A
      - Link to AC2-Strategy A
    - Strategy B
      - Link to AC1-Strategy B
      - Link to AC2-Strategy B

Or, if you were using it to group accounts by type, you could do something like this:

Code: Select all

- Master
  - All Accounts
    - Client A
      - IRA Acct
      - Non-Qualified Acct
    - Client B
      - IRA Acct
      - Non-Qualified Acct
  - All Tax-Free Holdings
    - Link to Client A IRA
    - Link to Client B IRA
  - All Taxable Holdings
    - Link to Client A Non-Qualified
    - Link to Client B Non-Qualified

These are just a couple examples to give you ideas. You can have as much hierarchy as you want, and organize your sub-portfolios however makes best sense for your needs.

The nice thing about using links is that you don't have to remember to maintain the copy.

[modelerMike]

Thanks Mark,
for taking the time to provide this quidance on how linked portfolios can be used.
sounds like there are benefits to sitting down and thinking through a good hierarchy design.

Mike