How does Quicken (2011) calculate portfolio return?

Really would like some input on this. Quoting what I saw as Q's YTD performance was part of what has become an uncomfortable situation between my FA and myself. (no editorial commentary necessary). I'd just like to understand why Q and reality seem so far apart so I can, if necessary provide an explanation/apology.

Q YTD return for APD should be (current market value + Div Received - beginning market value) / begining market value. On a per share basis that would be using

79.94 + 0.64 - 85.19 = -4.61 = return YTD

-4.61 / 85.19 = -5.41% YTD return %

When I added APD to my test file, bought a share 12/30/11, took in Div, that was the result Quicken gave me also.

What were your data points - values on 12/30/11 and recent? Did you buy or sell APD during this period?

Tod,

I apparently have been this route before because I found my own posts from previous years using google.. The answer has always been that Quicken has a problem with this calculation because it needs an accurate end point value to the range of data points, and doesn't know what "tomorrow" is (I'm not sure if it should be tomorrow or today's date that is the end point, but someone said tomorrow). I'm going to look at my price history file and see what I have for a specific YTD period, because if that's the file they are pulling the end value from, it's not very likely that therewill be a correct value for every YTD period. If they are pulling it from somewhere else (which would make more sense), they obviously can't predict what tomorrow's value will be, so I'm at a loss as to how they do this.

I have not bought or sold any APD in years and your figure is more in line with what I think the truth is, in contrast to the 6+% I see in that column on the Portfolio view. I'm going to play with my price history to see if I can get the % to change depending on what I enter for an end point, and will let everyone know if I find any pattern. I wonder if the 1, 3 and 5 yr returns are wrong also.

jo

See:

I don't have a problem with the 1, 3, 5yr returns and have held the security for longer than any of those periods. It's the YTD% that is screwy. If they can't calculate it, why do they offer that as a column for the Portfolio view? Apparently this has been a problem in Quicken for ages.