Portfolio Performance Report

[dbender54]

Help me understand the math for a Portfolio Performance Report for YTD (1/1/2018-Current Date).
I start out with the portfolio's beginning value as of 1/1/2018. Add contributions, deduct Withdrawals and withdrawal distributions. Add in the amount of gain and this equals the end of period portfolio value. In this market, it's not surprising to expect gain to be negative, but in my case Gain is positive, even though my ending portfolio value is less than beginning portfolio value. How can Gain be positive?

[Mark]

Hi dbender54,

You can get the equation for any field from a report by choosing "Help / Help on Report...". For the "Gain" field, the description/equation is:

The value gained by this line item for the specified time period. Gain will be the same for both cash flow styles, and can be calculated with either formula:

(Gain = End Value + Distrib. - Invested - Beg Value)
or
(Gain = End Value + Withdrawals + With-Distrib. - Contributions - Beg Value)

There are 2 possible "cash flow styles" available for this report. It sounds like you're showing contributions, withdrawals, and withdrawn distributions.

So, if your Gain is positive, but your End Value is less than your Beginning Value, then you must have withdrawn money from the line item in question (Withdrawals + With-Distrib. are greater than Contributions). All the numbers along a row should be self-consistent with the above equation.