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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

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Portfolio Software Reviewed

yogibearbullyogibearbull
in Other Investing
PORTFOLIO ANALYTICS SOFTWARE (Part I)
https://indoustribune.com/business/finance/portfolio-analytics-software-2025/

If you have multiple investment accounts, it becomes difficult to monitor all those portfolios. There are several portfolio analytics software that handle uploaded, stored or linked portfolios, but don't have any transactional capabilities. The analytics may include total-returns (TRs), rolling-returns, inflation-adjustments, portfolio value charts, drawdowns, U/D CR, benchmarking, SWRs/PWRs, MPT statistics (alpha, beta, correlation, standard deviation, Sharpe Ratio, etc), etc.

MFO Premium (MFOP)
It has great analytics at low-cost that is partially tax deductible. Partial site updates are daily, weekly, biweekly or monthly. It can handle mutual funds/OEFs, ETFs, CEFs & insurance VAs (internal tickers, selected Q-tickers), but not stocks. There is charting for portfolio components but not for portfolio values. Monthly return data are used for analytics. There are regular enhancements. MFOP runs are not linkable. MFO = Mutual Fund Observer; it's a 501c3 organization.

Portfolio Visualizer (PV)
Its free version is now limited to 10-year lookback from the date of the PV run, so that practically means 9 recent full years; the subscription version has medium-high costs. The PV runs can be longer with older start & end dates. It can handle mutual funds/OEFs, ETFs, CEFs & stocks. Portfolio can be manually entered or uploaded from Excel or csv files. An interesting feature is to include cash additions or withdrawals as percentages or that are uniform (with or without inflation-adjustments; default balances are nominal, but inflation-adjustment balances are also available). Monthly return data are used for analytics. PV runs are linkable.

TestFol
It's relatively new & rapidly evolving. It has a free version only & maybe a good substitute for PV as it doesn't have timeframe limitations. It can handle mutual funds/OEFs, ETFs, CEFs, stocks, & some VAs with Q-tickers. Login isn't offered, but it saves recent portfolios using browsers' local storage features. Cash additions/ withdrawals are also available. Unfortunately, the inflation-adjustment is applied to both the additions/ withdrawals (good) & final balances (not good), so the results won't match with the default balance values in PV. A unique feature is that it uses daily return data, so its MPT statistics won't match those from sites using monthly return data. Sometimes, the daily return data jumps around the ex-div dates & that may introduce small errors in MPT stats. Several rolling-stats are also available (TRs, SDs, Sharpe Ratios, etc). TestFol runs are linkable.

COMPREHENSIVE PORTFOLIO SOFTWARE (Part II)
https://indoustribune.com/business/finance/comprehensive-portfolio-software-morningstar-stock-rover/

These have both transactional & analytics capabilities. There are 2 ways that a portfolio software can get transactional information for buys & sells, & distribution reinvestments. The first way is the manual entry capability that used to be more common. The second way that is more popular now is with link to the brokerage or fund family. Investors may be concerned about security risks of account linking; moreover, evaluating test portfolios isn't possible.

Morningstar Portfolio
This is a rapidly evolving new product at a low-cost; try multiyear subscription discount to lower costs. It started with very limited manual capabilities, but those are getting better. The portfolio analytics remain weak. The monthly return data are used for analytics. It will eventually replace the old Morningstar Legacy Portfolio (counted as +) that has great manual capabilities including auto-reinvestments (with just a click). Both versions are available for now & all changes made in Morningstar Legacy Portfolios are reflected in Morningstar Portfolio, but not always so for the reverse.

Stock Rover (SR)
It has a free version, but for portfolio analytics, SR-Premium with low-cost is needed. While feature rich, it isn't very user-friendly & has a steep learning-curve. The manual mode requires manual reinvestments of distributions & that may become a monthly time-consuming chore, but if not done regularly, the portfolio data will drift from true values. A unique feature is that it uses daily return data, so its MPT statistics won't be comparable to those from sites using monthly return data.

The list of portfolio software featured in Part I & II isn't comprehensive. It provides insights into 5+ portfolio software with which the author has direct familiarity - 3 for Analytics (see 7/18/25 issue) & 2+ Comprehensive. Some brokers also have good portfolio capabilities, for example, Fidelity Full View. Experienced DIY investors may develop their own portfolio software using Excel or Google Sheets. Excluded from consideration here were pure charting & family budgeting software.

Comments

  • Sven
    Thank you @yogibb. M* portfolio X-ray was useful when it was available for T. Rowe Price customers. These days it is available only for high net worth customers.

    Fidelity brokerage offers a basic tool with limited capabilities.
  • WABACWABAC
    Sven said:

    Thank you @yogibb. M* portfolio X-ray was useful when it was available for T. Rowe Price customers. These days it is available only for high net worth customers.

    Fidelity brokerage offers a basic tool with limited capabilities.

    @Sven, where would I find the Fidelity tool?

    Or, what do they call it? I might already be using it. Do you mean their analysis tool?
  • beebee
    edited August 1
    Rob Berger's website has a number of links to Financial tools including a Fidelity link (@WABAC):

    https://fidelity.com/why-fidelity/insights-tools

    https://robberger.com/category/tools/
  • WABACWABAC
    Thanks @bee. I'm guessing @Sven might have been thinking about the Fidelity portfolio analysis tool that shows you, e.g., sector breakdowns on equity holdings.
  • gman57
    edited August 1
    https://totalrealreturns.com
  • Sven
    @WABAC, you are correct on Fidelity. Fairly basic on the asset allocation of the combined accounts. I am not further along enough using MFO Premium.
  • Sven
    @WABAC, you are correct on Fidelity. Fairly basic on the asset allocation of the combined accounts. I am not further along enough using MFO Premium.
  • sma3
    @yogibearbull

    Thanks for these ideas.

    I still find Quicken to be the most useful PM. It easily and seemlessly aggregates my data from multiple accounts as often as I click "update".

    While not as flexible in it's categories ( but most of the categories can be changed by the user and assigned to a security) it has very functional "export" features that allow easy exporting to M* or other sites.

    Quicken also has a direct link to M* Xray with a few but not all of the Xray features.

    Pretty good deal for $100 a year
  • gman57
    edited 1:35PM
    sma3 said:



    I still find Quicken to be the most useful PM. It easily and seamlessly aggregates my data from multiple accounts as often as I click "update".

    I use and have used Quicken for a long time but offline. Not happy they went to a subscription basis but still like it. You have no concerns about security letting a 3rd party login to all your financial accounts. I may get there someday but not yet. It took me years and years to stop getting store and gas receipts. Now, I only get them for large purchases.

    My brother used to use I think Mint? for the same thing, giving it access to all his accounts.

    Thousand dollar question: Why do we not see typos until after we post? Anyone?
  • yogibearbullyogibearbull
    @gman57, yes, I have a theory. Many typos just hide in plain view and reveal themselves only after making copies or posting. It must be some law of nature!
  • sma3
    @gman57

    I share your concern about login credentials. this is a potential issue with all "aggregators" most of which (Fidelity retrieving your Schwab accounts etc) in the past used Yodlee.

    Schwab has enhanced it's security for Quicken and other aggregators, and when I have asked I have been told these allow data scrapping only and not transactions. So the hack would have to be of the aggregator to access your pw.

    Given the option, I do not store my credentials with Quicken, but copy and past them in when I update.

    A couple of times a year I have searched for instances of fraud caused by hacking into Quicken or Yodlee and have never found any reports.

    This topic was explored in depth a couple of years ago here.

    https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/60398/are-the-risks-of-financial-account-aggregation-really-worth-it/p2

  • Observant1
    edited 3:17PM
    "I share your concern about login credentials.
    this is a potential issue with all "aggregators" most of which (Fidelity retrieving your Schwab accounts etc) in the past used Yodlee."

    Same here.
    Using data aggregators allows multiple accounts to be viewed in a "single pane of glass"
    but it also increases the attack surface available to nefarious actors.
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