Using Fidelity - track performance?

BristolManc

Hello all,

I was hoping some forumites might be familiar with the Fidelity platform? I have my S&S ISA (through Cavendish) on the platform but i'm struggling to see some of the things i was hoping to.

Is there any way i can see the historical performance of my portfolio (I have a line graph in my head of the composite funds and the total amount going up and down in £ figures)? At the moment i'm only able to see the current performance of the total portfolio (a balance sheet snapshot) and the amount i've made since inception.

I can go into each individual holding and see the general performance but this is unwieldy and doesn't really help. Surely there's a way to do what i'm after??

Thanks,

brendon

I don't think you can. I periodically take the valuations into my own spreadsheet and draw the pretty graphs I'm looking for. You can, however, view a 'backtested' performance of your current portfolio using the Portfolio X-ray feature provided by Morningstar. You have to download the PDF and it's a couple of pages down.

You can also use Google Finance to track your portfolio over time, but I have given up with that because their application is buggy and the data is often incorrect.

BristolManc

Bredon, thanks. I have been doing exactly that, downloading to a spreadsheet.

I must say I find it pretty incredible that it's not available!

BananaRepublic

I use YouInvest and Fidelity and the YouInvest platform is superior in terms of ease of use and information available. For each holding it shows the current value, and the purchase price. So at least you can see overall performance. There may be a historical value tool as well, but I don't think so.

choochootrain

You could set up a tracking portfolio at MorningStar for free. The Performance tab lets you see the 1 week, 1 month, 3 month and 1 year returns of each fund as well as 3 year, 5 year and 10 year annualised returns. No graphs apart from your total portfolio performance, though. The Premium service may have that functionality, I am not too sure. You can get a 2 week free trial every 6 months, just make sure you call them to cancel before the 2 weeks is up.

JohnRo

This is the reason I left Cavendish and moved to CSD, at the time I left it wasn't even possible to see something as basic as the cash held on account.

It's worth getting familiar with spreadsheet software such as openoffice calc but that requires time, effort and data. The account data retrieval available on most platforms leaves a lot to be desired in my experience, inadequate for all but the most basic of charts with a lot of manual input required to make that data usable.

Another useful option is to use Googlesheets and get familiar with the use of a few basic formulas to do the valuations for you automatically. This method has the advantage of being able to view and edit on the move as well as share with others. I'm not sure how useful this is for funds though as many might not be available to get prices and a lot of Google's chart features are also basic and very clunky but still not bad for free.

No idea how comfortable you are with using spreadsheets but there's nothing to fear, example below but be warned though, it didn't take long and will probably contain errors, just a taster of what's possible.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1A8M0VViGCd3Y1DiO2W3O5asiG-aIa0PAjxoW2m7g8Q4/edit?usp=sharing

choochootrain

Google Sheets can grab fund prices from Google Finance with a formula like =googlefinance("MUTF_GB:CF_WOOD_EQUI_11TTV1R","price") . Search Google Finance for your fund and copy its 'MUTF' code into that formula.

bigadaj

The free access part if trustnet should give you most of what you want, it's a bit of a pain putting in more than a couple of holdings, but half an hour should get things set up. There doesn't appear to be a way of monitoring if you trade often and sell parts of funds but if you're generally buy and hold it should be fine.

dunstonh

BristolManc wrote: »

Bredon, thanks. I have been doing exactly that, downloading to a spreadsheet.

I must say I find it pretty incredible that it's not available!

Remember that Fidelity is effectively a budget platform with limited functionality. You are getting what you pay for. It's software is old and it is very dated compared to most other platforms.

choochootrain

bigadaj wrote: »

The free access part if trustnet should give you most of what you want, it's a bit of a pain putting in more than a couple of holdings, but half an hour should get things set up. There doesn't appear to be a way of monitoring if you trade often and sell parts of funds but if you're generally buy and hold it should be fine.

Excellent point, I had forgotten that Trustnet give you the ability to graph the performance of portfolio constiuents. To OP: if you make a portfolio at Trustnet, go to the 'Analysis' tab and there will be an option to 'Show Constituents' under the graph.

But if you rebalance at all and ever need to sell, it's a bit rubbish. You are right that it's a hassle to add holdings and I've no idea why they don't allow for sell transactions. If you combined the best parts of Trustnet and Morningstar's free portfolio tools you'd have a really nice option.

TrustyOven

dunstonh wrote: »

Remember that Fidelity is effectively a budget platform with limited functionality. You are getting what you pay for. It's software is old and it is very dated compared to most other platforms.

Perhaps a bit off-topic, but how exactly is it dated?
I thought it looked quite "swish".

Looked much better than CSD (my current platform). I don't think you are the first person who has stated on this forum that Fidelity looks dated.... but I am at a loss as to who looks better, and what their platform looks like. Are there any screenshots, or videos that one could view? (yes, I'm aware of the dangers of chosing a platform due to "swishiness" but I am now intregued...)