Author Topic: Tracking Tools - the one feature they're all missing  (Read 3384 times)

dungoofed

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 661
Tracking Tools - the one feature they're all missing
« on: September 24, 2014, 11:45:14 PM »
What is the one feature that your tracking tools are missing?

Trying to find the perfect tracking tool I had a look at a few threads here on MMM forums* and, combined with my own experience, it seems the running theme is that there is no one tool which does everything a Mustachian requires. As a result, everyone ends up manually copying data from one place to another, creating their own custom spreadsheets, etc.

For example, I'm currently getting by with an Excel spreadsheet that I cobbled together, and got it to generate entries for YNAB (which I love), but there's still a lot of manual data entry which I can't stand, and I'd like some kind of rebalancing function.

The main tools being used tend to be from the following:

Excel
Google Spreadsheets
gnuCash
Mint.com
YNAB
Quicken
personalcapital.com

But even so, these all strike me as incomplete solutions on their own, and there is no real integration between them. Considering a lot of us could break our investing down into a set of defined rules I feel there should be a product which provides a more complete solution but I just haven't managed to find it.

Anyway, as per the title, what feature does your main spending/investment-tracking tool lack that you wish it had?



* eg

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/share-your-financial-spreadsheets!/
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/thoughts-on-personal-capital-future-advisor-other-online-investment-tools/msg160041/#msg160041
http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/investor-alley/calculators-and-investment-tracking-software/msg166837/
etc

robotclown

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 152
Re: Tracking Tools - the one feature they're all missing
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2014, 06:23:55 PM »
If Excel had a way to update the stock prices in real-time, it would be perfect.  I tried to set it up with smart tags, but it doesn't recognize all the stocks (it knows PKG but not KO?)  But other than having to manually update the prices, excel has everything I need, because it can be customized to display whatever is needed.

dungoofed

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 661
Re: Tracking Tools - the one feature they're all missing
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2014, 07:26:34 PM »
http://www.investopedia.com/university/excel-finance/linking-yahoo-finance.asp

If it's listed on Yahoo, you can get it into Excel. Not sure if this is what you're after though.


aclarridge

  • Guest
Re: Tracking Tools - the one feature they're all missing
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2014, 07:52:28 PM »
If Excel had a way to update the stock prices in real-time, it would be perfect.  I tried to set it up with smart tags, but it doesn't recognize all the stocks (it knows PKG but not KO?)  But other than having to manually update the prices, excel has everything I need, because it can be customized to display whatever is needed.

Well I don't have it real-time, but I press a button to update the prices of all my holdings. I can pull stuff from Yahoo or Google finance as needed (I have some TD e-series mutual funds that are not available on Yahoo afaik). I can give you the code if you want.

I'm pretty happy with my Excel portfolio tracking tool...allows for different accounts, shows you IRR and modified Dietz returns, and does the rebalancing calculation. You do have to manually enter deposits/withdrawals, trades, and dividends though.

robotclown

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 152
Re: Tracking Tools - the one feature they're all missing
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2014, 08:39:45 PM »
I'm trying to get it to put the current stock price into one of the cells, as a number so I can link formulas to it.  All I can find is the things where it pulls up a big window with lots of stock information.  Doing it with a button press would work too.

arebelspy

  • Administrator
  • Senior Mustachian
  • *****
  • Posts: 28444
  • Age: -997
  • Location: Seattle, WA
Re: Tracking Tools - the one feature they're all missing
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2014, 08:59:37 PM »
An accurate crystal ball.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

Less

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 178
  • Age: 37
  • Location: New Zealand
    • Journal
Re: Tracking Tools - the one feature they're all missing
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2014, 11:48:57 PM »
Undo?

aclarridge

  • Guest
Re: Tracking Tools - the one feature they're all missing
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2014, 02:19:09 PM »
Here's what I use to download Yahoo and Google finance quotes for what it's worth.

The macro sometimes fails but you just need to rerun it. There's something going on with the google quoting that I haven't fixed yet. The code is horrible though and should be improved; it's on my to-do list.