Questions about 401k's and Advanced Portfolio

[Daniel Hannum]

Disclaimer: This may be another "that will work when lots are
implemented." If so, I apologize in advance. This is an odd enough
situation that I'm not sure if the problem is in my accounting
knowledge, the advanced portfolio report, or the lack of lot support.
This is also with 1.8.4. Haven't tried with CVS.

Consider the case of reallocating funds within a 401k. Let's say I have
two funds that I have put $500 into (each). Each one, over time, is now
worth $1000. Advanced Portfolio is happy and says money in is $1000,
current value is $2000. Return is 100%.

Now I transfer all the money in one fund into the other. This is where
things get messy. I feel that the Advanced Portfolio should still say
100% (as I am trying to determine the return of my 401k, which is still
100%) However it says 33% (Money in is $1500. Gain is $500.)

I believe that that particular problem occurs because lot support isn't
there yet. It's as if the Advanced Portfolio report doesn't know about
the extra $500 of realized gain.

BUT, that made me wonder... Is that $500 considered realized or not? I
like to think that none of my 401k gains are realized because none are
taxed (yet) So I'm not sure what the advanced portfolio is supposed to
say, or if lots will help. As it turns out the advanced portfolio gets
confused in other ways

If I transfer money into a fund, it uses the gains before the transfer
and divides them by the total value (after the transfer) to get a %
return. I'm not sure if that's correct or not, but it seems to
artificially deflate the return numbers.

If I transfer money out of a fund, it figures the % return against the
total money in, ignoring the money that leaves. Again, probably not the
right way to figure a % return.

I'm not sure if these are bugs in Advanced Portfolio, or if I'm
expecting too much of it.

Advice is appreciated

dan