Negative Dividends

[chris319]

In the Portfolio Performance report I'm seeing dividends as negative amounts.

Why are dividends being reported as negative amounts? Shouldn't dividends be positive as part of the total return?

Thank you.

[Mark]

Hi chris319,

It is an option. See: Options / Report Preferences... / Portfolio Performance / Display Removed Money as Negative Value

It is documented as:

"Any field that removes money from the portfolio will be shown as a negative amount. This includes the Withdrawals, With-Dist., and Distrib. fields."

The idea is money you took out of the line item is considered removed, or subtracted from an ending value point of view. The ending value would have been higher if that money hadn't been taken out. Dividends are a positive for returns, but so is ending value.