I need an easier way to keep track...

[shellie01]

I just found the little excel sheet someone made up back in 07 to keep track of our stocks. It calculates if we are making a profit or if we're in the red. It's very cool but it doesn't have any feature that calculates the free shares into it. Does anyone have an easier way to do this. How do you keep up with it?

This is the zip file i'm talking about...
http://www.investorsiraq.com/showthread.php?t=48300

[Scott Gonzales]

Shares Tracker tool. www.IraqStockX.com

[shellie01]

thanks ill go check it out

[shellie01]

anyone have an excel type sheet?

[24mm exposed grid]

Shellie, I use that spread sheet too. I manually calculate the free shares and have really found it to be very simple. Maybe, it is simply the method that you are trying to use that is complicated. I will outline what I do, apologies if I'm "teaching you how to suck eggs", but I have no difficulty working any of this out whatsoever.

1) When your updated spreadsheet that details your free shares, is received, print it out.

2) Go to your P&L spreadsheet and manually take a note of (on a piece of paper), the Total IQD spent per stock, for the company you wish to update (column e).

3) Next read off your existing number of shares (column b) and manually calculate the new total including your new free shares. Enter the new total number of shares held into column b

3) After entering this, you will see that column e now has a new total. The new total will have increased. What you have to do now, is adjust the amount spent per share (column c) downwards, in a trial and error type manner until the new total in column e is at or about the same amount that you originally wrote down at step 2 above.

This will now give you the average price that you, in effect have paid for this stock since you first started buying. I easily use this method for all adjustments, including paid up shares and additional market bought shares in any company that I already own. Obviously whatever extra IQD (if any) you spend in the transaction, also needs to be added to column e.

It may seem complicated at first glance, but I really have found it to be a very, very easy method in which to update your records.



I have also made some adjustments to the spreadsheet in general. I have noticed that if a stock sits in the red in IQD terms, an increase in the IQD value will actually make the overall P&L go further into the red, which is clearly wrong. Also should the IQD rate strengthen (or weaken) significantly in the future, the spreadsheet as it stands at the moment, will calculate what you paid for your stocks at whatever the rate for the current day is, which again is clearly wrong.

I have added a few columns, so that the currency rate at which you purchased the stock, remains constant, whilst the value today, always reflects today currency rate. It is not perfect, as you do need to manually enter the IQD rate and average down if you have made several purchases of the same stock, but it does give a clearer picture as to your current position.

This is far more important for anyone that does not live in the US, as all other currencies do fluctuate (quite a bit) against the dinar, whilst the dollar remains reasonably constant.

If I can work out how to upload this version of the spreadsheet, I will.

Hope some of that helps.

[24mm exposed grid]

Make a separate copy of your spreadsheet so you can have a play about with this method, it really is easy in the end !