How to Track Your Investment Portfolio — Spreadsheet or App

Where a spreadsheet falls short

• Quotes — manually entering prices becomes unmanageable with a dozen or more holdings, and data-fetching formulas can stop working without warning.
• Currencies — a position in dollars requires the exchange rate from the transaction date and the valuation date, separately for each operation.
• Rate of return — with regular contributions, a simple difference becomes meaningless, and maintaining a list of cash flows for the XIRR function is laborious.

What a tool should calculate automatically

• Portfolio value in a single currency, using the correct day's exchange rate.
• Rate of return resilient to deposits and withdrawals.
• Actual costs incurred and the cost of exiting a position.
• Comparison with an index and inflation.
• Breakdown by asset class, sector, and currency.
• Results of closed positions, separate from open ones.

Import instead of manual entry

The most significant practical difference isn't about the numbers, but how data is entered. Manually transcribing transactions becomes unsustainable after a few months — not due to difficulty, but boredom.

Importing a report from your brokerage account solves this once and for all. In Portevo, you upload a file downloaded from your broker, and the app reconstructs positions, deposits, and commissions from it. Re-uploading the same report doesn't duplicate anything, so updating is a single action.

On Security

A portfolio tracker doesn't need access to your brokerage account, and it shouldn't have it. Importing a file provides the same data without entrusting anyone with the keys to the account where your money is held.

Also, check if you can delete your account and data — and if you can do it yourself, without having to submit a request.

Frequently Asked Questions

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