Portfolio Tracking Guides
Practical articles on tracking your investments, understanding returns, and getting tax right — for individual investors.
Why Your Spreadsheet Is Lying to You
The hidden ways DIY portfolio tracking produces numbers you shouldn't trust — cost basis drift, FX mistakes, and the illiquid asset problem.
What Is IRR and Why Your Broker Won't Show It to You
Time-weighted vs money-weighted returns explained — what IRR actually measures and why it matters most for private assets.
The Problem With Valuing Illiquid Assets
How to track private equity, real estate, and collectibles alongside public holdings — and a minimum viable valuation framework.
Unified Portfolio View: Why It's Harder Than It Sounds
The structural differences between asset classes that quietly break any system treating them all the same.
Capital Gains Across Borders: Why Getting This Wrong Costs Real Money
UK Section 104, US lot identification and wash sales, FX and cost basis — and what good records protect you from.
From Capital Call to Exit: Tracking a PE Investment End to End
Commitment, capital calls, valuations, distributions, follow-ons, and exit — what to track at every stage.
Your Net Worth Isn't a Number, It's a Timeline
Why a single net worth snapshot misleads and how NAV history changes the picture for planning and performance analysis.
What Should Individual Investors Actually Track?
A practical framework for what matters and what you can safely ignore. Track less, but track it right.
SEIS and EIS: What UK Angel Investors Actually Need to Track
Relief status, CGT exemption windows, follow-on rounds, and what happens when the S/EIS3 never arrives — the record-keeping side of UK angel investing.
Before You Renovate: How to Model the ROI of a Capital Improvement
ROI, IRR, payback period, and updated LTV — the financial framework for deciding whether a loft conversion or extension actually makes sense.
The J-Curve Explained: How to Visualise Your Private Equity Timeline
Why PE portfolios look terrible in year two, what the J-curve actually shows, and how to track capital calls and upcoming liquidity requirements across multiple investments.