Best approach to entering portfolio holdings

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anonymous
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Hi! I'm a relatively novice investor exploring Seeking Alpha.

While I realize the platform is intended much more as a research than portfolio tracking tool, I'd still like to optimize how I capture holdings in a portfolio.


1. Do most people add a new lot for every single purchase and dividend reinvestment, or do they -- on some regular cadence -- simply edit a single lot by summing their cost basis and dividing by current shares held?

2. If I use the "single lot" approach in #1, should I enter the earliest purchase date for that position, the last purchase date, or the date of when I'm making the change?


Thanks much for any guidance.

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SA Admin Kushal Mehrotra
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Hi,

1. You may choose either of the techniques, it comes down to personal preference. while adding multiple buys in a single entry make sure to update the Avg. cost. per share.
2. The date field does not affect portfolio value calculation and is solely for one's own record keeping.

Hope this helps, Feel free to reach out in case further assistance is required.

Regards,
Kushal Mehrotra
Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

P.S. Here a related knowledge base entry
How can I updates shares in my holdings tab?

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SA Admin Kushal Mehrotra
  • Answer
  • Answered

Hi,

1. You may choose either of the techniques, it comes down to personal preference. while adding multiple buys in a single entry make sure to update the Avg. cost. per share.
2. The date field does not affect portfolio value calculation and is solely for one's own record keeping.

Hope this helps, Feel free to reach out in case further assistance is required.

Regards,
Kushal Mehrotra
Data QA Analyst, Seeking Alpha

P.S. Here a related knowledge base entry
How can I updates shares in my holdings tab?

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anonymous

Thanks for the quick response, Kushal. Are there pros/cons to one approach over the other?

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martinko

I'd go with one lot per one purchase approach. Otherwise you'd have to keep recalculating your fees, the date won't really make sense and once SA improves their calculations (based on dates) your numbers would be incorrect. It's also easier to just add a new lot. The only downside is that many lots means many rows in portfolio listing. I wish portfolio would by default show one row per ticker that could be expanded to show one row per lot (either per ticker expansion or for the whole portfolio).