BusimyHow to keep track of your investments: shares, crypto, deposits and more
To keep track of your investments you need three things for each one: what you put in (and when), what it is worth today, and what went in or out along the way. That gives you the real return. The hard part is keeping it current, which is why an app that updates share and crypto prices and adds up interest by itself helps.
What to record for each investment
- What you put in at the start, in its currency: that is what you invested.
- Every later contribution and withdrawal, with its date: otherwise the return looks bigger or smaller than it is.
- What it is worth today: the price for a share or a crypto; principal plus interest for a deposit.
- What it pays along the way: dividends, interest, the rent from a property.
Each kind of investment is tracked differently
- Shares, ETFs and crypto: quantity times price. The price moves every day, so ideally it updates by itself.
- Term deposits and bonds: principal, rate and maturity. Interest is calculated; no need to check the bank.
- Properties: what you paid, the rent you collect each month and the costs (fees, repairs). You can buy in one currency and rent in another.
- Your own business or money put into someone else’s: what you put in and what it is worth today, even if it is an estimate.
How to tell whether it went well
Total return is what it is worth today plus what you withdrew, minus everything you put in. To compare investments held for different lengths of time, use the annual return: 20% over two years is not the same as 20% over six months.
And measure it in the investment’s currency: a share in dollars is measured in dollars. Converting everything mixes the investment’s result with what the exchange rate did.
An example with numbers
You bought $1,000 of an ETF in January and added $500 in July. Today it is worth $1,680. You put in $1,500 in total, so you made $180: 12%. If you only compare today’s value with the first purchase (1,680 against 1,000), it looks like 68%, and it isn’t.
How Busimy does it
In Busimy each investment has its kind: market (shares, ETFs, crypto), fixed income (deposits and bonds), properties, your business or other. You search the asset by name or symbol and its price updates by itself; you can see its history on a chart and refresh every price with one button. A deposit’s interest adds up by itself, and each month’s rent waits for you to confirm it was paid.
Contributions and withdrawals come out of and go into your wallets, so the total and annual return are the real ones. And if your portfolio is already at a broker, you can import it from a PDF, screenshots or a spreadsheet: the AI creates or updates it and shows what changed.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need a separate spreadsheet for investments?
- No: with your expenses and investments in the same place you see your whole net worth without copying data around.
- Can I track investments in different currencies?
- Yes. Each investment is in its own currency and measured in it; your total net worth shows them together.
- Do share prices update by themselves?
- Yes, for shares, ETFs and crypto you search by name or symbol.
- What if I sell an investment?
- You close it and it stays in the history with its result; nothing is deleted.