The same stock in different subportfolios

[sollner]

I use a subportfolio for each newsletter I follow so that I can track their performance individually. The problem arises when two newsletters that are connected to subportfolios in the same investment account recommend the same stock.
For example, I have subportfolio1 that once had a stock in it, call it XYZ, which is now sold. When I bought XYZ for subportfolio2, it was automatically placed in subportfolio1. I could use Transfer In/Out to move the funds to portfolio2, but which subportfolio will be updated when, say, dividends are paid or some shares are sold?
The problem would be even worse if two newsletters recommended the same stock concurrently, when the corresponding portfolios are in the same account.

[Mark]

Hi sollner,

Just create a new investment for the security, instead of adding the new transaction to an existing investment. You can have multiple investments in the same security, and each one is completely independent, and can be in their own sub-portfolio. For more details, see:

https://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/faq ... tments.php

[sollner]

Hi Mark,
Thanks for your rapid response. This looks like a good way to create two investments, but what happens when I retrieve transactions from Fidelity? Since the investments are in the same account as far as Fidelity is concerned, and FM sees two different investments, how does FM know to which investment to apply any changes, such as dividends? Will it split them proportional to the number of shares in each investment? That would be very intelligent of it. If it's that smart, it can probably handle a reconciliation too.

[Mark]

Hi sollner,

Yes, in this case, they could be placed into either of your investments, it is just the first one that FM finds with matching properties to the incoming transaction. It will not split the transaction up. You would have to do that manually after importing.

It will handle reconciliation fine though, as it will sum all shares with the same CUSIP and put them together, when comparing to the share balance reported by your broker.

[sollner]

That's good to know, Mark. Is there any way to influence which investment FM finds first. Currently I have a sold investment in XYZ in portfolio1 and an active one in portfolio2. It would save me some trouble with transfers if I could arrange for FM to update portfolio2 first.
Thanks,
Gerry

[aviator]

That's good to know, Mark. Is there any way to influence which investment FM finds first. Currently I have a sold investment in XYZ in portfolio1 and an active one in portfolio2. It would save me some trouble with transfers if I could arrange for FM to update portfolio2 first.
Thanks,
Gerry

Watching from the sidelines here... have you considered retrieving transactions one portfolio at a time?

[Mark]

Is there any way to influence which investment FM finds first. Currently I have a sold investment in XYZ in portfolio1 and an active one in portfolio2. It would save me some trouble with transfers if I could arrange for FM to update portfolio2 first.
Thanks,
Gerry

If they are in separate portfolios, with separate account numbers, then this will work fine without you doing anything. If you're asking about the case where you have multiple investments of the same security in a single account, then you can't easily influence which one will be found first. I believe the first one created/added will be found first. You could close the one you don't want to be found, save/exit, and then re-open that investment. Rather cumbersome... You could also try erasing the CUSIP property. I believe it will find the one with the CUSIP before looking for a symbol only match (I'm not positive on that, you might just try it...).

[sollner]

Thanks Mark. Just for your info, and that of aviator, I have your second case: the different investments in the same stock are in two subportfolios, both contained in another portfolio with a single account number. One investment is sold now, so I could close that one, but then I lose its effect on its subportfolio history, right? (I can't seem to find out what happens when you close an investment.) I use these subportfolios to track the performance of the various newsletters they correspond to, so I'd like to keep that history if possible. If the history is kept when an investment is closed, that would work perfectly.

[Mark]

Hi sollner,

You generally do not want to close sold investments, as that does completely remove them from your history. If you've sold something, and don't want to see it listed, hide it instead of closing it. We have a tutorial on hiding investments.

You are describing a situation where you can't easily control which investment will get the new transactions. See my last post for a couple of suggestions.

[sollner]

Thanks Mark. I guess that's all I need to know for now. I appreciate your expert guidance.
Gerry