Unrealized Gains and Stocks

[Mark Johnson]

Gregory Novak wrote:

>"Charles M. Gajan" <charlesgajan at earthlink.net> writes:
>  
>
>>Stocks are tracked by share, and the price in the price editor ("get
>>quotes") so the unrealized gains (losses) are only for the last quote
>>entered. Unless there is a split, sale or purchases the number of shares
>>is the number of shares. The only change in value would be at the time
>>of sale.
>>    
>>
>
>All undeniably true, but not the information I was after.
>
>The _purpose_ for doing this is to get a complete, year-end snapshot
>of my (negative) net worth.  That is, when I first set myself up into
>Gnucash, the "Starting Balances" account contains a complete tally of
>my assets/liabilities at one moment.  As time goes by, that number
>becomes less and less relevant because it's so far in the past.
>  
>
Wouldn't a balance sheet report give you your net worth?  It is the 
difference between assets and liabilities shown on the balance sheet 
(may be called something different than net worth, like "owner's 
equity.  Sorry; don't have time to try the report).  You should be able 
to adjust the report options to show different dates, although this may 
be strange with the balance sheet as it is a point in time, but the 
options still give a range.

Hope this helps, sorry about the rushed answer,
Mark