Today if you have a portfolio of equities and mutual funds it is very likely that you have inputted this data into an online portfolio tracker. More often than not your broker with whom you have an online account offers you the portfolio tracker. The added advantage here is that your transactions get automatically populated in the portfolio without any effort from your side. Let us understand the features of a best portfolio tracker app. What is the best app to track mutual funds India? Also how to use the Bloomberg portfolio tracker to keep a tab on your assets? Here are 7 features that your online portfolio tracker offers you..
1. Know the updated value of your investment holdings
Once your portfolio of equities and mutual funds is updated the real time price and the daily NAVs are updated automatically so that you can see the market value of your portfolio at any point of time. Most portfolio trackers also offer you the facility of tabulating your bond holdings and ULIP holdings apart from your equity, ETF and mutual fund holdings. Since these portfolio trackers are online, you can access them anywhere on the internet or you can even download the app and track the same.
2. Know your real time net worth at any point of time
Most online portfolio trackers go beyond your portfolio value and even keep a tab on your net-worth. Here we are referring to the net assets adjusted for your outside liabilities like home loans, personal loans, car loans, credit cards etc. In fact, online portfolio trackers give you the facility of even imputing the EMI structure of your loan so that the principal outstanding is captured on a regular basis giving you a realistic picture of your net assets.
3. Evaluate asset allocation and portfolio mix
What do we understand by asset allocation? It refers to your mix of various equity, quasi equity and debt assets. In fact some portfolio trackers even give you the granular exposure to specific stocks by also adding your indirect exposure via mutual funds. This gives you a more precise picture of where your risks lie. The asset allocation pie chart also allows you to decide where you are overexposed and where you need to take profits. The entire process of asset reallocation becomes automatic and system driven because of these online portfolio trackers.
4. Understand shifts in the portfolio mix
This is an important MIS that online portfolio trackers provide. You can understand how your exposure to debt and equity has moved over time. It also highlights when the exposure to a particular asset class is crossing a certain threshold due to the price appreciation / depreciation of various asset classes. The portfolio tracker typically gives you elegant pie charts and bar charts to understand such portfolio shifts which can give you and your financial advisor crucial clues with respect to portfolio assessment.
5. Keep a tab on profits and losses: both real and notional
One of the key ideas of your portfolio tracker is to constantly keep a tab on profits and losses implied on your portfolio. Obviously, your equity portfolio can be further subdivided into a trading portfolio and an investment portfolio. You can set different profit booking standards for these two classes of equity investments. It also gives you triggers when you can sweep profits out of an asset class and reallocate it to another. It also gives you hints on when you can use your value accretion to close out your loans and reduce your debt. All these are indicated by the online portfolio tracker.
6. Keep a tab on news, views analyst reports, earnings etc
The online portfolio tracker goes a step further by helping you set alerts. When you are holding equity and mutual funds you need to be alerted about relevant news and views. You can set alerts for news flows, dividend announcements, corporate actions, analyst reports, upgrades/ downgrades etc. All these conditions can be built into your portfolio and you can be intimated by email when these items are triggered. Thus you are saved the hassle of tracking all the relevant news and views pertaining to the stock and you can just rely on the portfolio tracker alerts to do the job for you.
7. Download and export results and MIS reports
Finally, the online portfolio tracker gives you a variety of MIS reports which you can export and even print in an excel format or even in a PDF format that is non-editable. This can be useful in a variety of ways. For example, if you need to give a statement of your net assets to your bank then you can just export and download the same from your portfolio tracker. Alternatively, if you need to have a discussion with your financial advisor, these MIS statements can act as a good starting point. Lastly, but not the least, you need the outcome of transactions for your annual tax filing. A specific MIS of capital gains and losses can be easily downloaded from the online tracker itself.
Your online portfolio tracker is not just a mode for viewing the latest prices of your portfolio or your portfolio value. It also provides a plethora of MIS reports and analytics. You must make the best use of the same!