Asset Allocation

Supernova

Ah, OK thanks Ian. Does seem a bit clunky.

Does it let you select Pension funds? It didn't seem to come up with any? Again Trustnet did.

Ta

dunstonh

Morningstar coverage of life and pension funds is weak. Trustnet is better but not comprehensive and there are a lot of holes. There is no free decent coverage of life and pension funds. Retail versions are not much better either on life and pension fund coverage but there has been some improvement.

Sillychuckie

Just registered for morningstar but it wont let me add anything.
I go to the Edit section of my portfolio and then click 'Add entry fields'.
After the 'please wait' box goes away, it shows:
"The page cannot be displayed.
Either the page does not exist or we have technical problems.".

I imagine this is only a temporary issue, but is this the correct way to add things? Are others experiencing the same problems?
Thanks.

Ian_W

Not unless you've already filled up the boxes that are on the page - "add entry field" gives you extra boxes to type into. Try typing the name of the fund into an existing box and see if it starts to offer you a drop-down, as I said before sometimes you you have to be a bit creative with the names to get the right one offered though mostly it starts to offer the right fund managers straight away.
If there is no drop-down menu when you type in one of the boxes then I think it's having problems, try again another time.

Sillychuckie

it lets me type stuff in and search for fund snapshots, but how do i add them to my portfolio so they are saved when i go back there?

its so unintuitive.

I get the box up, but then it never stays in my portfolio if i leave and come back in...
and then where to i input purcashes I have made so it can work out my growth and sector coverage etc?

really can't work out how to enter holdings and assign them to my portfolio. Usually good with this sort of stuff. Grr

Ian_W

Right. On the front page of portfolio manager there are 3 portfolio icons at the top in the middle, mouse over them and one is "new portfolio".
If you click that the page changes and there's a box for a name then it asks you to specify whether you want a watch list or transactional one. Try watch list as I've not used the transactional one - use Trustnet as said above. You then get a blank edit page with boxes for funds to be listed. Type the name of your first fund in the box and watch for autocomplete, you then need to specify whether the value is a % or an amount. Type all or some of your funds but before leaving the page press the SAVE button at the bottom, if you specify % then the funds you've entered must add up to 100% - doesn't matter if they're not really as you can go back to the edit page to add other funds and adjust %ages later.

Sillychuckie

OK. Thanks for that.
The website is now completely down for me (technical problems error) so i can't try what you said, but i'll look again tomorrow.

I selected a 'transactional' list, instead of just a 'watch list' because I wanted to detail my transactions and therefore have more info on my gains/losses over time. I think this is probably why it isn't working and why your earlier instructions weren't enough to help.

I'll try going back to a simple 'watch list' tomorrow assuming the website is ok and try again.
Thanks for the help, sorry to have asked you to explain the detail of the clicks like that. Have a go yourself with transactional and see if its as clear.

Thx.

Morningstar_Krista

Hey everyone

Thanks for all the feedback! Let me see if I can address some of it in one post, where you guys haven't helped each other out already...

---From experience it particularly doesn't like "M&G"--
This should be fixed now. Sorry for that! Give it another try and let me know if that works.

---Feedback since the revamp - from me at least - is that it is a bit more difficult to use, slower and "clunkier" if you know what I mean! I use it for the x-ray facility but also prefer Trustnet for actually keeping track of the £s and pence as it allows cash accounts to be included too.---
Again, our apologies! We have the best of intentions in the revamp and hoped to streamline the functionality--particularly the transactional portfolio setup. It should be A LOT faster now--we took it down yesterday for a couple of hours to work on that.
Cash Accounts can definitely be included in your portfolio! Try typing Cash and see if it pops up. I'll log a feature request for that to be a default holding that is always explicitly listed out.

---Does it let you select Pension funds? It didn't seem to come up with any?---
Pension funds can't be included yet, but with Morningstar's aquisition of S&P, I expect that to be available soon. Sorry not to quote a specific timeframe...lots of moving parts!

Happy to answer any additional questions. If you are in the London area and are interested in discussing the site with us further--potentially in person via an informal focus group--drop us a note at support@morningstar.co.uk.

Krista

carnet

Morningstar_Krista wrote: »

but with Morningstar's aquisition of S&P,
Happy to answer any additional questions.

In that case, perhaps you could explain the logic of this, as stated in Money Management, March 2007 ;

"Following a detailed review by Standard & Poors of its Investment Trust Database, the following fields will no longer be available [in the MM Statistics] :

DISCOUNT TO NAV;
FUND SIZE;
MARKET CAP ...."

Many investors consider some or all of these fields to be vital in their IT research - certainly more so than the likes of SHARPE RATIOS and MAX LOSS which are now given !

I realise that this probably has little to do with Morningstar but perhaps you could pass it on.

Ian_W

Morningstar_Krista wrote: »

Again, our apologies! We have the best of intentions in the revamp and hoped to streamline the functionality--particularly the transactional portfolio setup. It should be A LOT faster now--we took it down yesterday for a couple of hours to work on that.

No need for apologies Krista, the work that you did yesterday has made it very much less "clunky", much more user friendly and QUICK. Went on to-night and set up a transactional portfolio with none of the earlier difficulties I mentioned - it even loves M&G now!

Morningstar offers a real advantage for DIYers over Trustnet with it's free portfolio X-ray tool [though it seems to be down to-night :rolleyes: ]. Only IFAs get access to that on TN and I guess dunstonh and colleagues have to pay a fair whack for the privilege! So thanks to you and Morningstar I say.