When do you calculate your annual performance ?

bcfclee27

I suppose in the grand scheme of things it matters not, but just wondering if you were to note down your investment values annually would you note it at the start of the January IE the new year or the start of April in the new financial tax year.

bowlhead99

March/April time is more useful for planning stuff because practically speaking that's the time I am normally moving money between different places /investment types after figuring out what I should be doing with using the various tax allowances (ISA and pension , sometimes VCT, what income did I make for the year etc).

I do tend to look at calendar year as well, not because I specifically *need* the information for tax or money management purposes, but generally because investment funds/ market comparisons get reported on a calendar year basis. But I don't rush to do that as soon as December ends, it can wait a couple of months.

Alexland

It is your money so do it whenever or however you find agreeable. Or just sit back and think 'crikey thats a lot of money so I must be doing something right'

The most important thing to calculate is if you are on target for whatever you want to achieve. This takes some judgement on likely future performance.

Alex

Sea_Shell

I have a rolling 12 month basis, for worth, income and spends, to which I add each month end totals to, formulas do the rest.

binaryuniverse

I track throughout the year. However, as I have a Lifetime ISA, I do the major evaluation in April, after paying in to it at the of March.

Since this money I count as 'locked away' it easily shows me how much money I have instantly available to pay off debt, or to stash away in other accounts. And that sets my targets for the next 12 months.

MK62

bcfclee27 wrote: »

I suppose in the grand scheme of things it matters not, but just wondering if you were to note down your investment values annually would you note it at the start of the January IE the new year or the start of April in the new financial tax year.

As you say it doesn't really matter all that much in the grand scheme, but I find it easier to align everything with the UK tax year......the new tax year is when all the new tax allowances come into effect, the new ISA allowance starts....etc etc

However if you are trying to do historic research on annual performance of various global markets etc, you may find the calendar year easier, as that is how a lot of the available data is presented.

Prism

I evaluate my ISA at the end of the tax year.
My pension is rolling, all year round, though I rarely change much.
The cash/p2p in my limited company I deal with every 3 months

Aegis

I have a spreadsheet that summarises my holdings with an annualised performance figure for each. As such, all I do is update whenever dividends are paid and when my monthly contributions go in. The sheet then updates automatically so I can look at any time to see how things are doing.

Tom99

I record every capital values 1st every month, archive a copy every 3rd month but do a full analysis incl dividends, interest etc etc as at 5th April.
Since most of my funds are Acc I have to wait for the tax statement in May or so to see the dividends paid into the Acc funds.

newatc

I do a valuation and review every 3 months though I tend to think of the end of the year (December 31) to be the one that I'm most likely to decide on strategy changes.