Unrealized Capital Gain

[Randall Hopper]

     The quote system is a really natural way to deal with this for stock
and mutual funds.  That is, don't record real transactions for unrealized
gains; just use them to value your assets.

     I wonder if the same might be extended for use with other asset
accounts (e.g. home, auto, etc.) to handle appreciation & depreciation.
That is, assign an asset a "quote name", and put the quotes (appraisals) in
a Price Editor (like the current one, but which handles assets in general,
not just commodities).

     This seems like a good method to handle things like property
appraisals which change over time, and simpler than resorting to the
4-account strategy recommended in the docs (Asset, Unrealized Gain Asset,
Unrealized Gain Income, Realized Gain Income).  Just keep an Asset and a
Capital Gain account, use the quote (appraisal) to value the asset until
you sell it, and then transfer between the two accounts when you sell it.

     FWIW, the reason I'm pondering unrealized gains here is I would like
to keep a "Net Worth" measure somewhat meaningful.

Randall

-- 
Randall Hopper
aa8vb@nc.rr.com