Investment Limit (500)

[CGB]

Hi Mark,

I noticed that I have 470 investments and about 360 "unique investments" in the master portfolio. Is it only the unique investments that count toward the 500 limit?

I only own about 20 stocks and mutual funds. The others are history, or just for tracking different stocks/funds. If I hit the 500 limit is it possible to install a second instance of FM to use to just track stocks/funds that are not owned and have no history, or would I need to buy another license?

Thanks
CGB

[Mark]

Hi CGB,

Yes, it is the unique investment count that compares with the 500 limit. If you have the same investment file open more than once in your portfolio then you will have a difference between the total investments opened, and the number of unique investments opened. The unique count is the one that matters for the investment count limits.

You do not have to install Fund Manager a second time. You can create as many portfolio files (*.mm4) as you want. Each portfolio file is separate and can contain up to your 500 investment limit (Personal version). You can only have one portfolio file open at a time though. You could move all your "watch list" investments to their own portfolio file. It is generally more inconvenient to have separate portfolio files though, as then you have to do multiple price updates, and you would have to switch between portfolio files to see everything. See "File / Save Portfolio As...", and also use "File / Open Portfolio..." to switch between open portfolio files.

[CGB]

OK. Thank you.

If make a "new investment from existing" under "file operations" in order to make a clean copy for tracking purposes, that is now a unique investment, correct?

[Mark]

Hi CGB,

Yes, correct that would be a new investment. It is not too common to have a total investment count different than your unique investment count. If you do, that means you have the same investment file opened more than once. You may want this, and if so, that is fine, but it isn't too common. If you have the same investment opened more than once, whenever you make changes to that investment in one location, all locations will be updated.

[CGB]

OK.
I duplicated old and current investments to watch lists that are categorized by investment type/industry etc, resulting in fewer unique investments. However, I noticed that this makes it appear that I am richer than I am, so I started making new investments from existing for the watch lists, but may run up against the 500 limit. Therefore, I may live with the duplicated value or use a separate portfolio. Not sure if I can justify going to professional as I have been an intermittent user over the last couple of decades.
CGB

[Mark]

Hi CGB,

It sounds like you just need to organize your investments into sub-portfolios, so you don't get duplicated values. For example:

- Master Portfolio
- My Holdings
<all your accounts, with only 1 copy of each investment>
- Holdings by category
<add any other investments/sub-portfolios you want>

This way, when you report, report at the "My Holdings" level if you want to see what you own. You don't want any duplicated investments in here, or your balance will be too large by the amount of duplicates.

[CGB]

Yes I do that, but sometimes get confused. The addition of new investments without transactions was mainly stimulated by trying mobile app that opened to show total value of master portfolio.
Thanks.
Clarke