Product update: Changes coming to your PortfolioProduct update: Changes coming to your Portfolio

These changes aim to make it easier for you to see the past and current returns of all the investments in your Portfolio.

After we make these changes, some of the numbers and charts you see in your Portfolio could be different from what you see now—separate from the usual movements in share price, or from buying and selling shares. 

These changes will be rolling out in waves from Monday 5 July 2021, so you might not see them at the same time as your mates! But don’t worry, we’ll let you know within Sharesies when they’ve gone live for you. Read on for a breakdown of the key changes.

Separating your Wallet balance from your Portfolio value 

Your Wallet balance (the value of all the currencies you hold, converted to New Zealand dollars) will no longer be included in your Portfolio value. This means that your Portfolio value will only show the total value of your investments. 

You’ll be able to find your Wallet balance in the new Wallet section below your Portfolio risk breakdown, or in the menu where you’ve always found it. 

What does this mean for me?

Separating these two amounts makes it easier to see how much money you’ve got invested (your Portfolio value), and how much you’ve got ready to invest (your Wallet balance). 

If you have money in your Wallet when we make this change, your Portfolio value will go down by the same amount you hold. Don’t worry though, your money is still in your Wallet. 

Investing activity summary

We’ll be adding a summary of your recent investing activity right in your Portfolio—this’ll show any buy and sell orders you’ve made in the last 24 hours. Find it just beneath your Portfolio’s risk breakdown.

Tapping on the summary will show you more detail about each of your recent orders, including the order’s status and the amount you’ve invested.

Total return breakdown

You’ll get to see exactly how your total return is calculated, in a newly added total return breakdown.

Your total return is a way to measure your investment’s performance over time, and includes things like how much your investment has gone up or down in value, dividends you’ve received, and transaction fees you’ve paid. 

To see the total return breakdown for an investment, choose one from your Portfolio, go to the ‘Your investment’ tab, and select ‘Total return’. 

Gains and losses from selling shares

Currently, an investment’s simple return and total return are only made up of the ‘unrealised’ return on what you’ve got invested (the amount you could make or lose if you sold your shares right at that moment). This doesn’t give you a complete picture of your returns because it leaves out all the money you’ve previously made or lost when you’ve sold shares.

The new simple return and total return breakdowns will include the overall amount you’ve made or lost when you’ve sold shares in the past (known as the realised gain or loss), and take into account all of the shares you’ve sold since you first bought into an investment. We’re looking to give you more control over this in the future, so keep an eye out for updates soon!

What does this mean for me?

The new simple return and total return breakdowns give you a more complete reflection of the returns you’ve made or lost from your investment over its history.

If you’ve sold an investment’s shares at a profit in the past, but it’s currently tracking at a loss, you might see positive returns where previously you might’ve seen negative returns—and vice versa. This is because the previous gains or losses might outweigh the current gains or losses.

‘Amount put in’ breakdown

You’ll get to see exactly how much you’ve put into an investment in a new 'Amount put in’ breakdown.

The amount you’ve put in is the cost of all the whole and fractional shares you’ve bought in an investment—as well as any transaction fees you’ve paid on what you currently own. 

To see a breakdown of the amount you’ve put into an investment, choose one from your Portfolio, go to the ‘Your investment’ tab, and select ‘Amount put in’. 

Dividends will no longer be deducted

Currently, we deduct dividends from the ‘Amount put in’ amount when they’re paid into your Wallet. We do this to show you the total amount of money that’s gone into (or come out of) an investment. 

We’ve heard from some investors that this can be confusing—especially if the ‘Amount put in’ amount is lower than the amount you know you’ve invested. So we’re changing it, and dividends will now be included as part of your total return.

Tell us what you think 🍍

We’ve got more changes coming soon! While we can’t give away all of them just yet, we can tell you that you’ll be getting more control over how you view your investments, and further breakdowns about your Portfolio’s returns. Stay tuned!

If you’ve got questions or feedback about these changes, we’d love to hear them! You can let us know by flicking an email to help@sharesies.co.nz.