Yesterday, M* flipped the switch to off on my access to their portfolio manager tool. Thank you for the past years of providing this tool to the retail investor. It has been much appreciated but time for us to part ways by your choice and not mine. I expect you bowed to the pressures coming from big clients to stop helping the little guy through the offering of X-ray and portfolio manager. And, so it goes ... M* is no more for me ... The little guy.
Comments
I was unable to access Portfolio from M* Home even after multiple tries - that is the normal way.
https://www.morningstar.com/portfolio-manager
So, M* was indeed doing some internal shifting.
Also, by this time, all seems normal for M* Portfolio - access via the direct link I posted earlier, or from M* Home/click Portfolio.
M* login required: https://community.morningstar.com/s/feed/0D53o00006fe39sCAA
https://www.morningstar.com/portfolio-manager
and see if that works for you. It did for me.
They also will be happy to download your portfolio from your broker if you give them the PW etc.
They use Yodelee which has been around a long time, and which I am not sure I trust.
Has anyone tried Yodelee? Am I being too paranoid?
I can still see it. I got it back after trying a couple of steps, a week or so ago. As was mentioned here at MFO, apparently, M* was doing something internally, and I was involuntarily logged out. On a logged-out basis, the default switched to the "Investor" flavor. I much prefer Legacy to the "new and improved" "Investor" version.
But bear in mind, everyone: numbers at M* get updated when they feel like doing it. And it must be asked, whether or not the updates are even accurate.
Example:
In X-Ray, I'm looking at some ridiculous discrepancies, when compared to the chart display:
X-Ray says BHB is down YTD by -25.16%. The chart shows -15.54.
NHYDY X-Ray = down -16.41. Chart shows -15.37.
ET on X-Ray: +13%. But the chart shows +11.63.
PSTL on X-Ray: +4.1. Chart says +3.23.
When M* actually offers ACCURATE info, it is extremely useful. But it's a hit or miss proposition.
And I did not check to compare FUNDS in the same way.
Same CEF’s closing price + change on Friday:
Google pricing $3.83 +1.32%
Yahoo pricing $3.79 +.26%
M*, M/W, & Fido all have the lower price which is obviously correct. The tracker using Google is still incorrect.
Also, something I’ve noticed with funds that pay very large / frequent dividends is the linear charts or graphs may display only the actual price change over time, leading you to interpret that (incorrectly) as total gain or loss. M* gives (or attempts to) the actual gain or loss with dividends factored in. So, on a Google price chart the fund may appear to have lost $$ over several months, while at M* with dividends factored in it may show a substantial gain over that time as the dividends more than offset the decline in share price.
Honestly, I’m amazed at how much is available free at M* (albeit not always accurate). I have better luck (better access) at M* when I login using the DuckGo browser than with some other ones.
They now also have their own web browser.
I'm not familiar with the browser but have used their search engine for years.
Their homepage provides additional details.
DuckDuckGo
FullView is okay, used to be superior, but now My Financial Picture is more quickly complete and up to date, in my experience. Also a simpler account management interface.
I do not know why my access to M* seemed to improve. It just did. I switched to DuckGo for different reasons. In particular I’m presently able to read M*’s full reviews of funds (not that they’re very good). Previously they wanted me to subscribe to their “premium” service to access those. Could be due to some other reason, such as something to do with my IOS settings - or a recent IOS update, I suppose.
Like most, I assume, I’m always tinkering around with browsers / settings to try to evade the trackers if I can. Who wants everything they do recorded and possibly sold to some with questionable morals? The easy access to AI makes me uneasy when internet security is involved.
A browser is an application that runs on your computer and allows you to communicate with internet sites.
A search engine is a discreet application that runs within the environment of a browser, and is essentially a look-up directory to find internet sites that you may be interested in. Similar to a telephone directory, for those of us old enough to recall such things.
Examples of browsers: Firefox, Chrome. Edge.
Examples of Search Engines: DuckDuckGo, Bing, Google.
Tracking can occur at many levels: the browser, the search engine, and any site that you visit via the internet.
The DuckDuckGo search engine does no tracking itself, but has no control over your browser or any site that you may visit via the browser. Other search engines, Google in particular, attempt to discover, record, and sell information regarding any site that you may visit, and any interaction that you may have with that site.
The Firefox browser does no tracking itself; additionally it includes software which attempts to block tracking from any internet site that you may visit. Other browsers may or may not employ tracking.
For extra protection there are a number of anti-tracking extensions which may be added to your browser. One such is uBlock.
For virtually "forever" I've used the Firefox browser, the DuckDuckGo search engine, and a couple of different anti-tracking add-ons (currently using uBlock), with no problems.
The default setting for both the browser and add-on blocking is "ON". I've noticed that some critical sites (such as some banks) will not function properly if the browser or add-on blocking is ON. Typically this is because high-security sites exchange information with your browser to help insure that you are a valid user. Both the browser and add-on can be set to "Blocking OFF" for those sites.
The company recently released a web browser for Windows (available in public beta).
Link
@Old_Joe,
Like you, I've been using Firefox, the DuckDuckGo search engine, and uBlock for years.
I sometimes use Chrome or Edge for specific situations.
- Google Chrome (logged in to work) only for university purposes and nothing else.
- Brave for research purposes on 'dirty' sites (eg, cryptocurrency, malware, untrusted stuff, etc.)
- Firefox with a sh*t-ton of custom plugins including UBlock, for personal browsing, to include blocking cookies from Google-anything.
- Safari in rare cases when a site just won't work.
Even though you can use 'containers' in Firefox to separate things, I still prefer separation and compartmentalization versus using one browser for everything. It's a more extreme, if not perhaps untrusting/paranoid approach, but it works.
On the Mac there's a nifty app called Choosy that allows you to select which browser is automatically launched for a given site. To wit: I live in Firefox but my work calendar is all in Google. I click the invitation link in my mail client and Chrome fires up to RSVP, not Firefox (my default browser).
I also use different email aliases for different sites and virtual credit card #s on subscriptions to make it easy to monitor and/or turn off if I decide to unsubscribe.
I was using Chrome. It let in a bug which hijacked my search engine function. I ran Malwarebytes and it told me it quarantined the bug. But even after uninstalling chrome, I can see indications that it still has its foot in the door. Scumpigs. For example, Google still know my machine and invites me to sign-into YouTube using my google ID. (Youtube is a Google-owned thing, too, I recall.)
I don't any longer see the bug in quarantine, so after 90 days (default setting) I expect that Malwarebytes released it. I don't quite know what that means? Does it shred the file before releasing it from quarantine? Or in some way deactivate the junk? What happens to fecal stuff that is released from quarantine, I wonder? I myself could install and use a file-shredder. I just haven't done it.
I'm using the Brave browser and Brave search now. I went looking for airfares the other night. Apparently, the incredibly suck-hole airlines don't like the security tools I have going, for all the good they might or might not be doing. I filled in desired flight. How many passengers. Dates of travel. Then, "click continue." I clicked continue. I could not get any actual fares to appear. Looks like they want my cookies. And I suppose they do track as well; why else would it be the case that each time you check the same itinerary, the price goes up!? (I know that, from past usage.)
extensions:
AdBlock Plus. Autoplay Stopper. (It works, sometimes.) Random User Agent spoof tool. (Supposedly lies to the trackers about browser and platform I'm on.) Also, Trend Micro ad-blocker. Sponsor-block for YouTube. Malwarebytes. CCleaner. AVIRA antivirus.
I just lately reinstalled Firefox to give it another try. When I'd used it before (On my Mac,) every time it gave me an update, it erased all my bookmarks. After that happened a THIRD time, I gave up on it. I suppose it might be handy as a back-up. Ad Nauseam has a version compatible with Firefox. The way it works is simply delicious: it clicks on EVERY ad (which the user is not bothered by; the actual ads do not appear.) That way, the tracking scumfarts have useless, aimless zero to look at, in order to send me further targeted ads. And the ones who buy the collected click-history have no incentive to buy my collected click-history. There's no way for them to tell what I like or don't like. They might as well direct their junk into outer space.
Find that procedure under File / Import from another browser.
With the newer “Firefox Focus” I’ve found that it wipes clean any saved websites on my search engines. That’s the reason I wasn’t using it as the default browser. However, with the standard / more traditional “Firefox” installed as default browser that isn’t happening. Saved sites are left intact.
>> I was using Chrome. It let in a bug ...
Do you recall what happened?