Equity:Opening Balances question

[Max Gravitt]

Hi,

I am a new user of GnuCash, and I have a question regarding create new 
accounts and the Equity:Opening Balances.  I created a few new Brokerage 
Accounts under Investments and put in the first transaction as the 
opening balance as a transfer from "Equity:Opening Balances".  And of 
course, it shows up under the Equity:Opening Balances.

I understand the basics of the Double Entry account system, but why is 
it useful to see all of my opening balances aggregated or even listed in 
one place or even listed at all?  I understand that if I were to create 
a new account after already using GnuCash, I would transfer from some 
account to the new one.  But setting it up the first time, it seems 
awkward to have the Opening Balances account, and I'm having trouble 
getting GnuCash to reflect the current state of all my accounts.

Also, the toolbar that says Net Assets is reporting it as a value that I 
don't understand.  It is considerably less than the sum of just my 
investment accounts, not including checking.

Can anyone shed some light these newbie issues?

Overall, I am very impressed with the application and looking forward to 
learning how to use it effectively.

thanks,
Max