Share transfers - lost my ROI% info. Can I get it back?

mrzookie

I recently reorganized several accounts at my broker in order to better evaluate how the various components of my portfolio are performing. To do it, I had my broker move about 20 positions between existing accounts so each is more focused (growth, value, FI). I used the "shares transferred between accounts" function to move the those positions in Quicken so I would retain all of the transaction history (most of these positions go back a long way). Some of the transfers took quite a long time to complete, but it all worked ...  so I thought. All the transactions were moved, but I recently noticed that for any positions that were transferred, the ROI% in Quicken (which is roughly the same as cumulative investment return) is gone, and it's been replaced with the same number as the gain/loss %. Kinda sucks. Is there any way to get back the ROI% data? 

Thanks for any help you can offer.

q_lurker

Fundamentally, my answer to your question is: No.  What you are seeing represents the 'quirky' way Quicken handles Amount Invested as a component of the ROI% calculation.  ('quirky' = A whole 'nother discussion that has been deicussed ad nauseum.)  The Average Annual Return calculation (an IRR process) is much more 'durable' through the type of transformation you have applied.  I generally prefer that calculation via the Investment Performance report for better customization.  

Off the top and not knowing exactly what transpired between you, your brokerage and Quicken and if ROI is REALLY important to you, I'd suggest you undo things in Quicken (likely by a Restore from before) and let the brokerage provide the components with Quicken confirming the overall picture.  That would be the way to "get back the ROI% data".  

Be forewarned that other actions can also throw a similar wrench into the ROI calculations (spinoffs and mergers, come to mind).   

My stronger recommendation would be to learn to use Average Annual Return as a performance metric.  

q_lurker

Fundamentally, my answer to your question is: No.  What you are seeing represents the 'quirky' way Quicken handles Amount Invested as a component of the ROI% calculation.  ('quirky' = A whole 'nother discussion that has been deicussed ad nauseum.)  The Average Annual Return calculation (an IRR process) is much more 'durable' through the type of transformation you have applied.  I generally prefer that calculation via the Investment Performance report for better customization.  

Off the top and not knowing exactly what transpired between you, your brokerage and Quicken and if ROI is REALLY important to you, I'd suggest you undo things in Quicken (likely by a Restore from before) and let the brokerage provide the components with Quicken confirming the overall picture.  That would be the way to "get back the ROI% data".  

Be forewarned that other actions can also throw a similar wrench into the ROI calculations (spinoffs and mergers, come to mind).   

My stronger recommendation would be to learn to use Average Annual Return as a performance metric.  

mrzookie

Ugh. Was pretty sure that was the answer I was gonna get. Its too much work to revert and try to reconstruct. I also don't think I can get the transaction data from the broker (ML) in a form that can be imported into Quicken (I'm not a coding whiz).

I used ROI as a surrogate for personal rate of return. Its far from perfect, but its the best I'm aware of, although if there's something better I don't know about I'm all ears. 

Thanks for the reply.