Simple Tools to Track Your Investment Progress

Imagine you’re planting a garden. You wouldn’t just scatter seeds and hope for the best, right? You’d want to check on your seedlings, see if they’re getting enough sun and water, and maybe even measure their growth. Investing is similar – it’s not enough to just put your money into investments and forget about it. To make sure your money is growing the way you want it to, you need to track your investment progress. Think of it like checking a map during a road trip – you need to know if you’re heading in the right direction and making progress towards your destination.

Luckily, there are many helpful tools and resources available to make tracking your investments straightforward, even if you’re just starting out. These tools help you see how your investments are performing, understand if you’re on track to reach your financial goals, and make informed decisions along the way.

One of the most basic and essential tools is your brokerage account statement. Think of your brokerage account as the garden where your investments are planted. Your brokerage account statement is like a regular report card for your garden. Whether you invest through a traditional brokerage firm, an online platform, or even a retirement account like a 401(k) or IRA, you’ll receive statements, usually monthly or quarterly. These statements are packed with valuable information. They will show you:

• Your holdings: This is a list of all the investments you currently own, like stocks, bonds, or mutual funds.
• Transaction history: This shows all the buying and selling activity in your account, so you can see when you bought or sold investments and at what price.
• Performance: This is the most crucial part for tracking progress. Statements will often show how your investments have performed over a certain period, like the past month, quarter, or year. They might show this as a percentage gain or loss, or in dollar amounts.
• Account balance: This is the total current value of all your investments combined. It’s the overall snapshot of your garden’s current worth.

Brokerage account statements are usually available online through your investment provider’s website or app, and you may also receive them by mail. Regularly reviewing these statements is your first step in tracking progress. It lets you see the big picture of your investment journey.

Beyond statements, budgeting apps and personal finance websites can be incredibly helpful. Many of these platforms, like Mint, Personal Capital (now Empower), or YNAB (You Need a Budget), allow you to link your various financial accounts – bank accounts, credit cards, and importantly, your investment accounts. Once linked, these apps automatically pull in your financial data and give you a consolidated view of your finances, including your investments.

These apps offer several advantages for tracking investment progress:

• Centralized view: You can see all your investments in one place, even if they are spread across different brokerage accounts or retirement plans.
• Performance dashboards: They often provide visual dashboards and charts that make it easy to see how your portfolio is performing over time. You can track your overall portfolio growth and sometimes even drill down to see the performance of individual investments.
• Goal tracking: Many budgeting apps allow you to set financial goals, like retirement savings targets. They can then help you track your investment progress towards these goals, showing you if you are on pace or need to adjust your strategy.

Another useful tool, especially if you like to be hands-on and have a bit of comfort with numbers, is a spreadsheet. Using programs like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, you can create your own investment tracking system. This might sound intimidating, but it can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be.

In a spreadsheet, you could:

• List your investments: Create columns for each investment you own, noting the asset type, purchase date, number of shares, and purchase price.
• Track current value: Regularly update the current market value of your investments (you can find this information on financial websites like Yahoo Finance or Google Finance).
• Calculate gains or losses: Use formulas to calculate the percentage change in value for each investment and your overall portfolio.
• Visualize progress: Create charts and graphs within the spreadsheet to visualize your portfolio’s growth over time.

While spreadsheets require a little more effort to set up and maintain, they offer a high degree of customization and control over how you track your investments.

Finally, don’t underestimate the value of professional financial advice. A financial advisor can provide personalized guidance on tracking your investment progress. They can help you understand your account statements, interpret performance data, and ensure your investments are aligned with your financial goals. While there might be fees associated with professional advice, for some investors, especially those who are new to investing or have more complex financial situations, it can be a worthwhile resource.

In conclusion, tracking your investment progress is crucial for staying on course to reach your financial goals. Whether you choose to use brokerage account statements, budgeting apps, spreadsheets, or seek professional advice, the important thing is to actively monitor your investments and understand how they are performing. By using these tools, you can take control of your financial future and make informed decisions to help your money grow.