Portfolios And Sections
A portfolio is one set of books. A section is one kind of holding inside it. Keep yours and your parents' apart, or put the whole household in one. I do not mind which, so long as you are clear about it.
Portfolios
Each portfolio has its own sections, its own rows, its own note from me and its own settings. Nothing in one is counted in another. Switch between them, or start a new one, from the menu at the top of every screen.
Deleting a portfolio removes every section and row in it, and cannot be undone. Only whoever made it can delete it. Sharing a portfolio with others is covered in People.
Portfolio Settings
These live under Settings, then Portfolio, and apply to this portfolio only.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Financial year starts in | April | The month your financial year begins |
| Compare against | Nifty 50 | The index your money is set against: the same money on the same days, put into it instead |
| Inflation, % a year | 5.5 | Used for every "after inflation" figure, and for the future ghost on Today |
| Show XIRR after this many days | 90 | How long money must be in before I quote a yearly rate |
The indices on offer are Nifty 50, Nifty 100, Nifty 500, Nifty Next 50, Nifty Midcap 150, Nifty Smallcap 250 and Nifty LargeMidcap 250. The portfolio's colour and icon are here too.
Sections
Sections are made and changed on the Data screen. There are two sorts:
- Typed sections: Kinds I already understand. I know their fields, how to value them and where to find their prices. A portfolio can have one of each.
- Custom sections: Something else, for anything I do not know: a car, a flat you rent out, the chit fund you were talked into. You choose the fields and how it is valued, and you may have as many as you like.
| Kind | What it holds | How it is valued |
|---|---|---|
| Stocks | Shares on NSE or BSE, from any broker | Exchange closing prices |
| Mutual Funds | Funds, matched to AMFI by ISIN | AMFI's daily NAVs |
| Bonds | Government and corporate bonds, SGBs included | Exchange closing prices |
| Crypto | Coins from any exchange or wallet | Daily prices in rupees |
| Bullion | Gold and silver coins, bars and digital gold | The day's gold and silver rates, by weight and karat |
| Deposits | Fixed and recurring deposits | From the rate and the dates |
| Savings | Bank balances and cash | The balance, with interest from the day you give |
| Loans | Home, car or personal loans | What is outstanding, counted against you |
| Property | Homes and land you own | Your own estimate |
| Insurance | Term, health and other cover | Shown, never counted |
How each is priced is in Prices and Returns. How to bring rows in is in Importing.
Counting And Notes
Every section has a Count it in net worth switch. Off, it is tracked but left out of totals and wealth XIRR. Insurance is never counted, whatever the switch says.
Every section also has Notes for Ebenezer, and I read them before I say anything about it. "Emergency money, never locked beyond a year" or "The flat we live in. Not for sale." saves me telling you to put idle money to work when it is not idle, or to sell what you have no intention of selling.
Custom Sections
A custom section has fields of your own, each a text, number, money, date or percent field. Renaming a field keeps its data. Removing one hides it, but the rows keep their old values.
It is valued one of three ways:
- By your own figure: You keep a value field up to date.
- Grows at a rate: Cost compounds yearly from the date bought, at a rate you set.
- Not valued: A list you keep, with no money attached.
Moving Holdings Between Sections
A holding with an ISIN can be counted under a section other than the one it came in with. The usual case is gold: a gold ETF or an SGB arrives with your shares or bonds, and you may prefer to count it as gold. Open the holding from its section on the Portfolio screen to move it, or to move it back.
Moving changes where a holding is counted, not where its rows live. Its trades stay in the section they were imported into, and its value, cost and returns go with it. A holding cannot be counted as a loan or as insurance.