Example Portfolio

When you first open the application, it will automatically open an example portfolio if you installed the application in the default install directory. If not, you can use the File menu to Open Account. Navigate to the directory in which you installed the application, then look in the Account directory to find ExamplePortfolio.ptk.

ENTERING MONTHLY DATA

After opening, you will see in the Equity Charts tab, an excel grid that looks like the following:

Let’s go over what each Column represents:

• Month: We decided to use months, instead of weeks or days, for charting account performance. We believe this to be the best balance to see how you’re portfolio is performing, and still not requiring very much work to update account values as all you have to do is enter values once a month.
• Account Value: This is where you enter how much money is in your account at the end of the month. This can be obtained by looking at your broker’s statement that you receive every month.
  ‹ + / - : This field is where you type in whether you deposited or withdrew money for that month. This value is used to accurately calculate VAMI which will be described later. So if you deposit $5000 in February, your would enter “5000” in the February month row. However, if you withdrew $5000, then you would enter “-5000” with the minus sign in front of the number.
• VAMI: Value Added Monthly Index is automatically calculated based on your account value and the deposits or withdrawals you had for the month. VAMI will be discussed in detail later in the guide.

NOTE: For correct VAMI update, Account Values should be entered starting at the first initial date and working your way up to the most recent account value.

EDITING DATES

Underneath the excel grid, you will notice a “From” and “To” date. We will later go over where these values came from when we walk through the creation of a new account.

The "From" and "To" date represent the period in which you would like to graph values. The “From” date remains fixed but the “To” date can be changed without losing values outside of range. Just as the graphs only show data within the date range specified, all values from the Analytics tab are calculated based on this range as well. So if you are viewing a month with a zero value entered, this zero will be considered in the calculation of the statistics on the Analytics tab. This is why it is best to only display values that have your real account balances entered.

NOTE: When saving account values, only values that lie between the “From” and “To” date are saved.