The Morningstar User’s Guide is a series of articles discussing how to make the best use of the tools, research and analysis available at Morningstar.com.
In the last article we covered a basic Introduction to Morningstar.com. Today we look at adding our portfolio to Morningstar. After you register with Morningstar (which is free), adding your portfolio takes just a few steps. If you’ve just registered as a free member, at the end of the registration process, Morningstar gives you an option to input your portfolio into Moringstar. If you’ve already registered, you can input your portfolio by clicking on the blue portfolio tab near the top of the home page. In either case, you have two choices to make when creating a new portfolio: (1) whether to upload your portfolio or input it manually; and (2) whether to create a Transaction Portfolio or a Watch List Portfolio:
You can upload your portfolio from Quicken or Money, from several finance websites, or from excel. I chose to upload my portfolio from excel, which took some trial and error. The work sheet needs to be formatted as follows:
The worksheet must be saved in .cvs format (comma delimited), and if you’re running a Mac like I am, you’ll need to chose .cvs (Windows) format.
Next, you’ll need to decide whether to setup a Transaction or Watch List Portfolio. A Transaction Portfolio allows you to enter each individual transaction, including reinvested dividends (which it automatically downloads for you). The Transaction Portfolio allows you to track in detail your investment returns. For our purposes, I’ve chosen the Watch List Portfolio, which simply tracks the number of shares you own in each investment. Morningstar gives you the option of selecting which investments you uploaded from the spreadsheet to include in your portfolio. I included all of mine, and here is the result:
With our portfolio entered into Morningstar, in the next article in this series we will begin to explore some of the rich features Morningstar’s Portfolio Manager has to offer.
Return to the Morningstar User Guide table of contents.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I HAVE A PORTFOLIO ON LINE WITH MORNINGSTAR BUT I CAN’T GGET INTO IT FOR SOME REASON. IT WON’T TAKE MY PASSWORD. HOW CAN I GET BACK INTO IT? THERE ARE A LOT OF ITEMS I WISH TO DELETE.
James, if your password is not working, Morningstar provides a link to reset it. You should see the link when your log-in attempt fails.
I do not see a ” Blue Tab ” on the top of the page to bring up the free portofolio analysis on the X ray page. HELP PKLEASE
Thank You
Tom, I’m not tracking your question. The blue tab I referred to was the Portfolio tab you select in input a portfolio. It’s no longer blue, by the way, but your question seems to be focused on the X-ray tool. That tool is available only as a premium member.
I have a portfolio listed that I need to edit, but I can’t get into it, HELP.
Sharon Van Valin
I am using QIF uploads. How do you upload dividends that are not reinvested? If I change all of the symbols to cash for the dividend transactions, how will it calculate the proper total return for each investment?
Joanie, I don’t believe Morningstar can calculate total return when you don’t reinvest dividends. I had the same problem recently, and could not find an easy solution.