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Problem with YTD loss calculation!

unknown

Hi,
The YTD loss calculation is wrong. I bought PG just before it went down (won't talk about that :-( ) and my "gain/loss" column is correct but the "gain/loss YTD" is WAY off.

The stock was bought just a 5 days ago and clearly it hasn't lost over $3600 dollars, but this is the main problem with Quicken. It has never been able to produce an accurate performance metric for my accounts. I know the calculation is probably taking in some "length of ownership" into the calculation, but this isn't accurate by any stretch. Based on the numbers presented it looks like I've lost 20% of my investment when 6% is closer. I very tired of giving examples to Quicken and having them produce a product that is so bad. PLEASE.... PLEASE focus on getting the performance metrics which are needed and get them accurate in Quicken. YTD means so far for this year...as if you had the investment for the year! If I wanted a performance that would include "only 5 days" I wouldn't select YTD.

I did a search and it appears that the "Gain/Loss" term is the focus of a lot of complaints so I guess I'm just number 3,452.

Regards,

Mark

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Comments

mshiggins

Your screen capture does not include the column headings, can you repost the picture including the column headings?

RCinNJ

I'll take a guess on the column headings: I believe the first 2 RED columns are your loss for PG and the last 2 columns are the "Year to Date" losses. That's how much you would have lost if you had purchased the shares on Jan. 1. Look how much less you loss by waiting to buy (just not long enough, but that's another story I can relate to).

unknown

Your screen capture does not include the column headings, can you repost the picture including the column headings?

Hi. I am traveling and don’t have access to my computer.

The first two red columns are the gain/loss for the purchase. The last two columns are the gain/loss YTD.

Clearly I haven’t lost the amount in the YTD column so I’m confused why this is happening.

Thanks for the help

Mark

unknown

RCinNJ,

I’m not sure that is the correct method for YTD calculation. While your interpretation of how Quicken is working may be correct it isn’t what YTD gain/loss should be. The YTD gain/loss should be the amount gained or lost on the investment during the current year. As such in this case the investment gain/loss and the YTD gain/loss should be the same. They would be different if I had multiple purchases or sales in the year but as this is just one buy the two investment calculations should be the same.

Would be interested in your thoughts. Maybe I’m completely wrong.

Thanks.

Mark

unknown

Your screen capture does not include the column headings, can you repost the picture including the column headings?

Hi mshiggins,
Here is a picture with the headings.

Mark

unknown

Okay... So I can prove the YTD calculation is at best inconsistent with reality. Please look at the picture below. You will see that the date for the purchase is 4/9/18, not even a month ago. Notice that the Gain/Loss column is positive, yet the YTD Gain/Loss is negative. QUICKEN support, please figure this out. I've used Quicken since 2007 (windows first then Mac) and you've never been able to correctly compute performance and gain/loss. You're forcing me to go back to excel spreadsheets just to get a gain/loss computation. PLEASE help!

Thanks

RCinNJ

I'm no accounting or financial expert, so I may be wrong, but as I said before, my understanding is that what QM is doing with the YTD info is aggregating the YTD performance for the stock in the stock market. What I believe your screen shot shows is that the % loss of the stock for the year is 2.6%. I.e. if you had owned it from the Jan. 1 it would be down 2.6%. That is the same for both lots. The $ loss column differs because the amounts of the purchases are different. This is how much you would have lost on each lot if you had owned both on January 1.

If you've owned it less than a year then the Gain/Loss columns represent your personal YTD performance for the stock. Next year, assuming you don't add shares, the YTD performance will be the same for your stock holding and the market as a whole. I hope my explanation is helpful. This may not match what you think would be most useful for you, but I do find this information useful and, unless the information is not accurate, I personally wouldn't want this changed.

unknown

I'm no accounting or financial expert, so I may be wrong, but as I said before, my understanding is that what QM is doing with the YTD info is aggregating the YTD performance for the stock in the stock market. What I believe your screen shot shows is that the % loss of the stock for the year is 2.6%. I.e. if you had owned it from the Jan. 1 it would be down 2.6%. That is the same for both lots. The $ loss column differs because the amounts of the purchases are different. This is how much you would have lost on each lot if you had owned both on January 1.

If you've owned it less than a year then the Gain/Loss columns represent your personal YTD performance for the stock. Next year, assuming you don't add shares, the YTD performance will be the same for your stock holding and the market as a whole. I hope my explanation is helpful. This may not match what you think would be most useful for you, but I do find this information useful and, unless the information is not accurate, I personally wouldn't want this changed.

Hi RCinNJ,
Thanks for the comment. I think the issue here is there is no way to get an accurate answer "how am I doing this year?". This is because, as you mentioned the YTD appears to be calculating as if you owned the stock from Jan 1, which is interesting, but completely irrelevant if you only owned the stock for say a month and wanted to know how your portfolio is doing for the year. YTD gain for the portfolio (in my opinion) should contain just the gain/loss for the portfolio "as is", not "as if".
The number I'm trying to figure out is just a simple "what is the return of my portfolio, so far this year?"

answer= current portfolio value - (portfolio value @ Jan1 or starting date if portfolio wasn't created on Jan 1)
This also works for individual purchases as well so we can see how the stock is performing as a purchased.

Based on your deduction (which appears to be correct) there isn't any way to answer the question and it is so frustratingly fundamental that I can't believe I'm still using Quicken.

Thank you for the explanation! Really do appreciate your help especially since 0 has come from Quicken support.

Hope you have a great day!

Mark