Notes on measuring a portfolio honestly — what your return actually is across several brokers, which risk numbers are worth your attention, and what your own trade history says about the way you make decisions. Written for people who hold positions for months and years rather than minutes, and who would rather see the arithmetic than be told a conclusion. Every guide shows the manual method first.
How to calculate your true return across multiple brokers
If you hold investments at two or three brokers, there is no single number on any of their dashboards that tells you how you actually did. Here is how to work it out by hand.
Read → Data · August 2026What happens to your portfolio if you die?
A practical, jurisdiction-aware walk through what happens to your brokerage accounts when you die — how brokers are notified, why executors struggle to find accounts, and the exact list to leave behind.
Read → Dividends · July 2026Yield on cost is misleading you. Here is the honest version.
The number that makes every dividend holder feel clever is the one that tells you the least about what to do next.
Read → Performance · July 2026Every broker's performance number lies to you (differently)
Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, Robinhood and Interactive Brokers each compute "your return" a different way. Here is exactly what each one includes — and why the same portfolio can show five different percentages.
Read → Diversification · June 2026Diversification score: how concentrated is too concentrated?
A practical guide to how many stocks you should own — with the thresholds by portfolio size, the maths behind the marginal benefit curve, and the overlap a simple position count hides.
Read → Diversification · June 2026Portfolio concentration: the risk you cannot feel
Your portfolio can be far more concentrated than it looks — and the number that proves it takes about two minutes to work out by hand.
Read → Behavioural · May 2026The seven cognitive biases that show up in real trade data
You have read Kahneman. This is the part he left out: what each bias actually looks like in your own exported trade history, and how to test yourself for it before you blame your psychology.
Read → Behavioural · May 2026R-multiple for investors who hold for months, not minutes
R-multiple is the day trader's favourite risk metric — and it works just as well for a nine-month hold, once you fix what one unit of risk actually means for you.
Read → Behavioural · April 2026How to write a trading playbook you will actually follow
Five rule categories, side-by-side examples of testable versus vague wording, and a copy-paste ten-rule starter you can use before your next trade.
Read → Journal · April 2026A trading journal for long-term investors: what to record
The eight fields worth recording, the ones that waste your time, and why you write the entry when you buy — not when you sell.
Read → Performance · March 2026Am I actually beating the S&P 500? A step-by-step check
The honest answer usually isn't the number your broker shows you. Here's how to work it out properly — by hand.
Read → Performance · March 2026TWR vs IRR vs your broker's number: why they all disagree
One portfolio, three returns, and every one of them is correct. Here's the maths, a worked example, and how to know which number actually answers your question.
Read → Performance · February 2026Sharpe vs Sortino: which one matters for a retail portfolio
Both ratios reward return per unit of risk — but they disagree about what counts as risk. Here is the difference, worked on the same portfolio, and a plain answer to which one you should watch.
Read → Behavioural · February 2026Why you sell your winners too early (and what it costs)
The disposition effect explained without the jargon, then turned into a number you can put on your own trades — including the times selling early was the right call.
Read → Behavioural · September 2026Does emotion affect trading returns? How to measure it yourself
The exact method for tagging decisions at the moment you make them, then comparing what your calm trades returned against your reactive ones.
Read → Behavioural · September 2026Conviction is overrated: does it actually pay?
A method for testing your own conviction ratings against realised returns — and why your highest-conviction trades may not be your best ones.
Read → Behavioural · September 2026What your exit trigger says about you
Five reasons investors actually pull the trigger to sell — and how to find out which one is quietly costing you, on your own trades.
Read → Seasonal · January 2026The multi-broker investor's year-end checklist
Nine December tasks that turn four disconnected accounts into one clear picture — before the tax deadlines and the new year close the window.
Read → Seasonal · January 2026How to review your investing year in 30 minutes
A timed, six-step annual review — one question and one time budget per step — so you finish with real numbers and one rule for next year.
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