[GNC] GC Best Practices for Investment Management

[NoobAlice]

On 2023-11-08 01:16 PM, Jediator wrote:
> ... I noticed that a major feature in
> GC is the stock and investment management function, which I was 
> hesitating to get into.  I'd like to hear from fellow GC users on the 
> usefulness and best practices for using GC for investment management. 
> Especially:
> 
> 1. GC was developed in the 90's before many brokerage firms offer
>     portfolio management and analysis tools.  Is it really useful to
>     replicate your investment data in GC from your brokerage account?
>     What are the advantages does GC bring in doing this other than
>     calculating capital gain taxes/loss?

I find these uses:
* Keep track of multiple brokerages with multiple accounts in each
* Keep track of running balances of taxable and tax-exempt income of 
various types during the year
* See summaries over multiple years of different tax types of income by 
account/investment
* As Richard Losey said, have offline access to quick info about accounts :)

I reconcile my brokerage accounts with GnuCash monthly.

> 2. What types of direct reporting functions in GC for investment
>     management (Info in tool guide and online Wiki seems to be outdated)?

I don't tend to use the built-in reporting tools  for investments except 
for quick looks.  In general, I export multi-column balance sheets and 
income statements to my own spreadsheet to let me:
* check and correct allocations across accounts
* calculate quarterly estimated taxes - earned income information is 
also in GnuCash
* model what different investing moves would do to my tax situation
* get a much better estimate of what portions of dividends will be 
qualified, return of capital, foreign tax, etc. than brokerages are 
willing to give mid-year

Specifically, I don't use the Advanced Portfolio to check my cost basis. 
  It uses average cost basis, and I don't.  Every so often, I will 
"Export the Active Register to CSV" to check that my cost basis in 
GnuCash matches what is on my brokerage statements.  (Except now I'm 
trying it and it looks like I can just use a modified Transaction Report!)

I find the "Trading Accounts" function absolutely vital.

I find it very useful to reflect with my own chart of accounts the 
breakdown of income that the tax return will use.

> 3. How do you compare GC with other open source products (e.g.,
>     Ghostpolio)?

I have never tried another.  I stick to mutual funds and a basic 
allocation, though across several taxable/retirement accounts, so my 
needs are comparatively simple.  I usually end up making just a few 
rebalancing transactions each year.  My use would probably not be 
relevant if you are big into trading.  :)