Hi, recently we see a lot of losses reported here, but they are mostly without context and it is difficult to determine how bad it is, for example: “I am down 40% so far, but overall still up 5% since 2020.” What does that mean? Is he up or down? Is loss of unrealized gain a loss? Obviously unrealized means unrealized, but when you want to measure the performance of your portfolio, how do you usually do that?
Scenarios:
- Loss of unrealized gain YTD. If you own GOOGL since forever, but YTD is -23%, do you think your investment has suffered 23% loss?
- Total vs invested fund. You have $10K, you invested $5K, which dropped to $2K YTD, does your investment suffer ($3K/$5K) 60% loss, or 30% loss?
- Additional fund. You invested $5K, which dropped to $2K YTD. Your paycheck of $5K just arrived and you transferred it to your trading account. Does your investment suffer ($3K/$5K) 60% loss, or 30% loss?
Just a few examples to discuss. Also appreciate if you could mention a couple of (free) portfolio tracking services. Thanks!
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