How-to

The how-to section demonstrates the features and functions of the Portfolio Performance program in a real-world context. Check the sidebar (or click the menu if it is collapsed) to view all topics. A brief summary of each topic, listed in alphabetical order, is provided below.

  • Benchmarking your portfolio: Benchmarking involves comparing your portfolio's performance against financial indexes like the S&P 500. This section explains how to find and add indexes from sources like Yahoo Finance and investing.com. It also covers displaying benchmarks in performance charts and comparing your portfolio's performance to these benchmarks.

  • Copy securities between portfolios: This page explains how to transfer securities between different portfolios in the Portfolio Performance software. It covers methods like Drag & Drop, Exporting & Importing, and Copy and Paste (with intermediate CSV-file). The page also discusses the complexities of copying between XML files.

  • Downloading Historical Prices provides various methods and sources for obtaining historical stock prices. Most securities are covered by Portfolio Report or Yahoo Finance. In some cases, more sophisticated methods may be required, such as downloading from a CSV File, utilizing a JSON Quote Feed Provider to fetch data, or scraping a table on a website. There are many other sources such as Alpha Vantage, EODHD, and Morningstar .

  • Handling Choice Dividends focuses on choice dividends where shareholders can choose between cash or stock payments. It includes practical methods for booking these transactions in Portfolio Performance.

  • Import GBX Priced Securities is a short guide for importing transactions and securities priced in GBX (pence). It emphasizes creating securities with the correct currency and preparing transaction data for import as CSV files.

  • Inspecting Source Code provides instructions on examining the Portfolio Performance source code on GitHub to understand calculation methods, such as the volatility indicator.

  • Recording a Merger, Spin-Off, or Stock Split is quite common in portfolio management. These pages discuss various methods, applied to some real examples such as the Amazon stock split, the Daimler Truck Holding AG spin-off, and the Unipol Gruppo's merger. The section about Insolvency explains how to handle securities of insolvent companies, including disabling automatic quote updates, deleting historical prices, and manually adjusting security values.

  • Importing PDF-bank notes can be a significant time-saver. Requesting a New PDF Importer provides guidance for specific bank or broker transactions, including how to extract and anonymize PDF text, submit requests on the PP forum, and wait for developer integration.

  • Retrieving gold and other precious metals prices: This page discusses various methods to invest in gold, including physical gold, ETFs, and shares of gold mining companies. It explains how to download historical gold prices from websites like Ariva.de, LBMA, and Gold.org.

  • User Interface Overview Describes the elements of the PP user interface, such as the menu bar, sidebar, dual-pane layouts, tables within the main pane, and keyboard shortcuts for essential functions.

Most tips and tricks are initially discussed on the PP forum. Regularly checking this forum will provide you with valuable insights into the PP program. It's worth noting that a significant portion of the information on the forum is in German, but you can use your browser's translation function to understand it in your preferred language.