fund questions

[Frank H. Ellenberger]

Hi Mark,

Am Donnerstag, 19. Mai 2011 um 13:57:30 schrieb Mark Smith:
> Hello everyone,
> I have used gnucash for a little bit now that I am comfortable with
> foreign currencies and the basics. I have also successfully set up
> Finance::Quote on my linux installation (but not on Windows, it simply
> won't install...). I managed to setup a stock account for stock that I
> own and gnucash even pulls the price for me automatically without a
> hitch. I used Yahoo Europe (it is a German stock). A couple of
> questions:
>
> 1. Does the "Fraction Traded" matter in any way? I wouldn't know what to
> put there, so I left the default, is that ok?

Read the prospect of the commodity, ask your trader or search your receives 
for the rounding of the pieces if you buy for X USD, EUR or whatever instead 
of n pieces.

> 2. I am trying to add a Fund now, assuming I have to create a "Mutual
> Fund" type account. What do I need to do in order for gnucash to pull my
> mutual fund prices automatically as it did with my stock? Here's what I
> filled in to the "security editor":
>
> Full Name: Aberdeen Global - Technology Fund S2
> Symbol: LU0476877211
> Type: FUND
> ISIN: LU0476877211
> Fraction traded: 1/10000
> (x) Get online quotes:
> Single: Morningstar, SE
>
> I have tried different "providers", but none yield anything. If you
> don't know what to fill in here, can you help me troubleshoot how to
> find the right provider?

I do not have the solution for your problem, but some background information 
and a few rules.

The problem is: Every provider uses for different reasons his own symbols: 
e.g. yahoo shows different prices for different places. You can buy Siemens 
shares in New York for USD and in Frankfurt/Main for EUR, so you must append 
at least the currency to the ISIN for a unique result. But the price might 
differ between Paris and Amsterdam while both use EUR, then you must use the 
abbreviation of the place with a leading dot as appendix. German providers 
still stick with the german WKN (~ CUSIP) instead of the ISIN ...

I ask usually Google with the ISIN to get a list of providers, which I compare 
with F::Q's sources. Then I visit their web page to get an impression of 
their prefered symbols. 

E.g. http://www.morningstar.se/Funds/Quickrank.aspx
click on "namn" to get the alphabetical order

and read 
 man Finance::Quote::Morningstar

Now you are on your own to guess the symbol. Or ask the author of the module - 
searching him in Morningstar.pm had no success, so you could search or ask at 
http://finance-quote.sourceforge.net/ - , what is meant by "Use some smart 
fund name...". 

Then I usually run 
 gnc-fq-dump <provider> <symbol> 
to verify the symbol before I enter it in GnuCash.

> 3. What is the best way to use as a layout for funds? Make a placeholder
> of type "Asset" and put the various mutual fund type accounts below? Is
> that "clean"? If my placeholder is of type "mutual fund" then I cannot
> select my currency so that's why I would choose "Asset".

It depends on your needs. If they are noted in different currencies, it is 
suggested to have a parent node for the currency. If you use also different 
bank depots, you could have placeholders bank-A-USD, bank-A-GBP, ... 
bank-Z-ZAR

> Thanks!

HTH
Frank