Graph of my investment performance not working the way I would imagine...

Robert Arrington
Robert Arrington Member ✭✭
edited September 2022 in Investing (Windows)
When charting my investment performance compared to the SP500 over the past 12 months, shouldn't both lines start at a common point? No matter what date range I use, a common starting point is never used.

Best Answers

  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Answer ✓
    Are you referring to the Growth of $10,000 chart? In that chart, the calculation starts on the specified starting date but the first data point is last day of that month.

    Try using the last day of the previous month as the starting date. For YTD, set the starting date to 12/31/21.  

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  • Robert Arrington
    Robert Arrington Member ✭✭
    Answer ✓
    Wow...you are correct...Thank You. Now my question is "how did you figure that out"?:)

Answers

  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Answer ✓
    Are you referring to the Growth of $10,000 chart? In that chart, the calculation starts on the specified starting date but the first data point is last day of that month.

    Try using the last day of the previous month as the starting date. For YTD, set the starting date to 12/31/21.  

    QWin Premier subscription
  • Robert Arrington
    Robert Arrington Member ✭✭
    Answer ✓
    Wow...you are correct...Thank You. Now my question is "how did you figure that out"?:)
  • Jim_Harman
    Jim_Harman SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2022
    I was confused by the same issue a while back so I experimented. Also @Gary R asked a similar question just recently, which refreshed my memory.

    It is also confusing because Quicken chooses the interval to use for the data points somewhat arbitrarily. 

    And before you spend too much time with the Growth of $10,000, please review and vote on this Idea post.
    https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7905946/improve-growth-of-10-000-calculation-so-it-does-not-overstate-returns-with-purchases-or-sales
    QWin Premier subscription
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