Display Cost Basis in Recving. Port. for Transferred Shares

[Shmuel]

Hi. I recently transferred shares of several assets from one portfolio to another. I used the Transfer Between dialog and entered all fields. My MA Overlay (Share Price) graph for the asset in the receiving portfolio has a marker for the transfer in. But there is no graphical indication of the cost basis or date of the original purchase (i.e. details from the Buy transaction in the original portfolio). Am I missing something? Is it possible to display this information other than via work-around (e.g. in the receeiving portfolio, delete the "Transferred In" and add a fictitious Buy, as though the original purchase took place in the receiving portfolio)? Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi Shmuel,

When you record a Transfer In, you have a separate date/market value transferred versus the tax basis date/value. The graph marker will be displayed for your transfer date and market value, not the original tax cost basis/date. This is one of the effects of using a transfer. You are not moving the whole performance history, you are only moving the shares as of a given date. It will retain your tax basis/date for capital gains calculations, but the performance impacts (ROI) on that investment only start once you transfer the shares.

In some cases, you can prevent having to use a transfer, in order to maintain the whole performance history in a single investment. For example, if a company merges, it can be preferable to use a split/rename methodology instead of transferring shares between 2 different investments.

What was your reason for using the Transfer Between dialog originally?

[Shmuel]

Hi Mark. Thanks for your quick response. In answer to your question, my reason for using the Transfer Between functionality was because, indeed, the shares were transferred between portfolios at two different brokers.

[Mark]

Hi Shmuel,

One other option you could consider is moving the whole investment between sub-portfolios. The drawback of this approach is you don't see the value move on the transfer date, but it will retain the full history of that investment in a single investment.

[Shmuel]

Thanks, Mark, for this suggestion. I will consider it. One drawback is that I did not transfer all the shares - some remained in the original portfolio.

[Mark]

Hi Shmuel,

Okay, in this case, the best way is with a transfer, as you've done.

[Shmuel]

Good to know. Thanks.