It’s good to take time to remember those who were in the military and have performed the ultimate sacrifice. I was never in the military, and at my age the military wouldn’t even take me, but I really respect those who serve, have served and those who have sacrificed in the military.
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Memorial Day is a reminder every year of how bad my memory is. Outside of car keys, wallet and cell phone, I can scarcely remember where anything else is. For example, I have no idea where my staple gun and funnels are located.
When it comes to investing, my memory is just as bad as it is with my staple gun and funnels, can’t remember the trades I’ve made or the reason(s) for the trades, which is why I use PowerOptions tools to do my remembering for me.
PowerOptions’ portfolio tool provides the means to remember and track your trades. After logging into the PowerOptions website, the Profit/Loss Portfolios tool can be accessed by selecting the “My Portfolio” tab and the Profit/Loss Portfolios sub-tab as shown below:
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Initially, a user is presented with the setup page in order to setup a portfolio as shown below:
To configure a portfolio, a user enters a desired portfolio name (e.g. “covered call”), the amount of cash in the account (e.g. “$100,000”), the starting basis amount (e.g. “$100,000”), the starting basis date (e.g. “5/22/2012”) and then selects “Submit Changes”. The figure shown below illustrates configuration of a portfolio:
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To view a portfolio, a user may select the “Profit/Loss Portfolios” sub-tab as highlighted above, after which the following will be presented:
To select a different portfolio, a user can select “Select Portfolio” and then select the desired portfolio (highlighted below). To enter a position, a user may select “Enter new position” and select the type of position to enter (e.g. “covered call”) as shown below:
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A user will then be presented with a new position entry page as shown below:
To enter a position, user enters details (e.g. ticker symbol, number shares, number contracts, commissions/fees and price/share) related to the stock and the respective option(s) and selects “Submit” as shown below:
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The position will then be presented in the respective portfolio as shown below:
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Since my memory is so bad, I usually enter some notes related to the position by selecting the “Events/Notes” next to the position as highlighted below:
The user will then be presented with a notes page which can be used to enter notes related to the position as shown below:
Previously entered notes can be viewed as shown below:
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Since my memory is so bad, I also use alerts to tell me when a stock price has reached a certain price. To enter an alert, a user may select “view” from the “Alerts” column for the position as shown below:
The user is then presented with an alerts configuration page as shown below:
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A user may then select to receive an alert, for example by selecting an alert when the price of Apple’s stock is greater than $625 as shown below:
When an alert occurs, the “Alert” column and stop limit columns will be highlighted as shown below:
A user can very quickly review triggered alerts by selecting the “Alert Summary” tab as shown below:
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Additionally, a user can receive information daily for the portfolio via email by selecting “Email portfolio daily” as shown below:
A whole host of information related to the position can be viewed by selecting the “More Info” button as shown below:
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Using the “More Info” buttons, trades can be executed with selected brokers via “BrokerLink”, position analysis can be performed, the positions in the portfolio can be deleted and revised, a profit/loss chart can be viewed, stock price charts can be viewed, information related to the company can be viewed, the option chain for the stock can be viewed and research information related to the company can be viewed.
More extensive information related to the position can be viewed by selecting “View position analysis” as shown below:
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In memory of those who should be remembered, I leave you with this:
Although no sculptured marble should rise to their memory, nor engraved stone bear record of their deeds, yet will their remembrance be as lasting as the land they honored. ~Daniel Webster
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