Cost of Holding

[philstunell]

I am a new user evaluating FM - and exploring how it works.

I have a couple of questions about graphs:-

1) Can you plot the cost of a shares held? (without adding distributions - ideally as a negative cash flow - ignoring distributions - to date)

I know that you can overlay data for different investments, for a single performance measure - share price or total return etc

But can also:-

2) For a single investment, overlay different measures of performance?

I would like to combine on a single plot:-
a) Purchase cost of units held (average cost per unit x shares held) (-ve cash flow)
b) Net cash flow ("A" above + Distributions - Expenses)
c) Total Return ("B" above + current value)

Ideally, for a single investment, sub-portfolio, or portfolio

Is this possible?
If so, which version of the software is required?

Thanks in advance.

Phil

[Mark]

Hi Phil,

1) You can plot the "cost" of investments and portfolios. This cost is the Out Of Pocket (OOP) cost. Read that link for the details on how this is calculated, but the general idea is this is your break-even point. A reinvested distribution does not increase your OOP cost (but it does increase your tax basis).

2) You can't plot net cash flow or returns, but you can see the returns listed above each investment's graph for any time periods you want. They are figures, not graphed.

[philstunell]

Hi Mark
Thanks for responding and I understand OPP - and I think that is what I would describe as net cash flow.
The 'cost of stocks held' shows the 'capital committed and provide context for interpreting the other graphs, but I have not found a way of plotting this.

Phil

[philstunell]

Mark,

This is an example of the graphs / figures that I would like to generate.

Ideally, the share / unit price would be shown in separate window above this graph.

It reveals not only the performance of the share, but the impact of my decisions on the portfolio's performance.

Phil

[Mark]

Hi Phil,

Okay, thanks for the idea/information. These aren't available today. You can get value, price, price + dist, and OOP cost (either per share, or in value terms). Maybe we could do something like a user-defined plot, which would work similar to user-defined custom report fields, where you can write an Excel like equation to plot what you want.

[philstunell]

I think the Net Cash Flow = NAV + Distributions (so that is available)
Total Return is also available, so not a problem.

The surprising omission is the cost of assets held.

As, I think, this is required to work out the taxable gain on sales / redemptions - I think the information probable exists, although it is not presented.

regards

Phil

[Mark]

Hi Phil,

FM will calculate both your "taxable" as well as what we call your "Out Of Pocket" cost basis. However, it will only graph the OOP basis. It doesn't plot the taxable basis, although this figure is available in the reports and Portfolio Editor.