If you’ve ever remodeled a home, you understand how even the smallest change can sometimes spiral into something much larger. One fixture you love clashes with something else, so you create a short shopping list. When you start pulling things out you realize that you should probably replace the wiring and plumbing. If you’re going that far, you might as well remodel the entire room. And before you know it you have a new kitchen.
Upgrades can be unpredictable like that.
I recently had a similar experience working on some new tools at Portfolio Charts. It began with redesigning the Toolkit to add some new charts and make it much simpler to enter data without so many steps. The result was so useful that I realized I could apply it to the site infrastructure to make my job way easier. If I was going that far, I might as well make some interface changes that I’ve been thinking about for a while now. And before I knew it I updated nearly every page on the site.
If you only have a few minutes, here are the major changes to be aware of:
- All of the backtesting tools have a new interface with a more intuitive layout and built-in ETF-finding capabilities.
- Some data has been tweaked, like the shift from total stock market to large cap blend funds in portfolio definitions and the elimination of expense ratios. So the resulting numbers may be slightly different than before.
- Old bookmark links will no longer work, so you’ll need to save them again.
- The Toolkit is massively easier to use. If you ever downloaded a free sample, you may receive an email with a new one to tinker with. And Toolkit owners should be on the lookout for an email with a free update.
If that sounds interesting, the full upgrade list is pretty extensive. Read on to learn more.
Table of Contents
- Major Features
- Other Site Updates
- Redesigned Toolkit
- Lend a Helpful Hand
- Powerful Tools for Normal People
Major Features
Updated portfolio input interface
The core of the online changes revolves around a fancy new interface that headlines every interactive chart on the site.
The first thing you’ll notice is that everything is reorganized and is a lot simpler, cleaner, and better labeled. But there are also two important non-cosmetic changes to be aware of on the left hand side.
1) Total market stock funds are no longer a unique option. I did that to eliminate index overlap and consolidate portfolio definitions on the same types of large cap funds for fairer comparisons. But if you invest in total market funds like VTI like I do, have no fear! See that note with a simple formula to calculate Total Mkt returns? Because of the way index definitions work, it’s really quite accurate. You can still use the LCB and SCB fields with those percentages to model TSM performance.
2) Check out the Developed row. The default Developed ex-US setting is the same as before, but the alternative Developed World version (that includes the US) has a new acronym WLD instead of the old DEV. It’s still the same data, but the World term matches common index terminology and helps distinguish the two types of Developed data.
New asset allocation info
In addition to the updated interface layout, each chart now has a brand new section that summarizes the things that you just entered.
This new section serves three purposes. First, it provides long-form asset descriptions to help you clearly understand what each setting represents. Second, it’s a nice way to describe the portfolio in places like the Portfolios or Bookmarks where the traditional interface isn’t necessary. And third, it has an awesome new setting to help you build your own actionable portfolio.
See that black box labeled Asset Class? It has a second option called Example ETFs that does this.
Instead of listing asset classes, the tool now offers up to 3 example ETFs that closely follow the selected indices. Those are the types of funds you’ll want to buy to build your own portfolio.
Long-time Portfolio Charts users may notice that this functionality is a feature of the Fund Finder tool. Well, the Fund Finder has been officially retired because the fund lists have been promoted to full integration into every chart. And for investors who live in Europe, I have a special surprise just for you. While the old Fund Finder stuck to awkward ISIN codes that pulled from a single pool of ETF options with inconsistent coverage across Europe, I spent a lot of time recently collecting ticker names appropriate for exchanges in individual countries.
For a cool example of how that works, here’s how it displays the Coffeehouse Portfolio funds for different European countries.
Now keep in mind that the funds are just suggestions. I pulled them from places like JustETF and did my best to match index definitions, but there very well could be mistakes. So treat them as a starting point for your own research, and please let me know if you spot something that needs to be corrected.
That caveat aside, I’m really excited about this new functionality for how it supports my larger mission to make Portfolio Charts more than just an academic tool to run cold numbers. By selecting asset classes and studying the results, you can learn how to build robust portfolios from core principles. And once you’ve found something that works, you can easily apply that knowledge to collections of real-world funds.
Integrated comparison charts
One of my major technical reasons for redesigning everything is that it finally allowed me to fulfill a common request — adding more charts to things like the Portfolio summaries and My Portfolio page.
So starting today, there are more charts than ever in one spot! The Portfolio Matrix, Rank Over Time, and Risk and Return charts are built in alongside everything else in those summary sections.
The members-only My Portfolio tool is especially fun now, as you can not only create every chart at once for your own portfolio but also instantly compare it to all the others using things like Portfolio Matrix. That’s a major timesaver! If you’d like to streamline your research workflow while supporting the site, please consider becoming a member to give it a try.
Updated bookmark system
Portfolio bookmarks are handy ways to save ideas for later or share them with others using a simple link. Due to technical limitations, they still require one extra step after following the link, which I understand can be confusing. So as part of the overhaul, I cleaned up how they work and made them easier to use.
When you use a bookmarked portfolio link, you’ll see this additional section on the page.
It’s all pretty straightforward from there. To try it out for yourself, here’s a bookmark for the Annual Returns chart for the Permanent Portfolio in Italy. Follow that link and copy/paste the code to see the the resulting charts.
The one downside to the redesign is that any old bookmarks you saved will no longer work. Sorry about that! But once you save new ones, you should be good to go for a long time.
Other Site Updates
Beyond the headline changes, there are tons of other updates. These include:
- Updated chart designs to make them easier to read and use.
- Refined baseline/stretch return calculations to make them a little more accurate.
- The data no longer includes fund expense ratios. It was just way too much work to constantly update for a minimal impact on the results. As an example of that minimal impact, even when looking at an insane amount of scenarios in the Global Withdrawal Rates chart, eliminating the expense ratio didn’t change the top global portfolio at all. But when interpreting the results from now on, be sure to think about the impact of fees on the numbers.
- The Returns Quilt has been retired. I normally wouldn’t move on from a relatively new tool so quickly, but honestly the Rank Over Time chart that came afterward is a better tool that accomplishes the same thing (in addition to much more). Just set it to look at 1-year returns and you can see the same annual data.
- The Portfolio Matrix and Risk And Return charts no longer track the perpetual withdrawal rate or the longest drawdown. They’re calculation-heavy metrics that bogged down the tools looking at many portfolios at once. But you can still find them in the Withdrawal Rates and Drawdowns charts.
- References to estimated data have been removed from all charts. That was a necessary function when I first started collecting data with limited sources, but I’ve been shifting away from that recently as I now have enough asset histories where replacement data is only rarely used in a few assets prior to 1975. You can read about that in the Data Sources. But the important thing is that cutting that minor feature makes the charts less confusing and the calculations a lot easier.
Redesigned Toolkit
If you’ve made it this far through so many changes, you may notice one conspicuous thing missing. Oh yeah! This all started with the Toolkit. : )
While the old Toolkit was extremely powerful, the tradeoff is that it was admittedly pretty complex. There were lots of sheets and settings involved just to model a simple series of data, it included deep in-the-weeds features like tracking multiple countries that most people don’t need, and it was frustrating even for me to copy old data into a new updated spreadsheet. So yeah, I’ve been thinking about ways to improve it for a while now.
The new Toolkit has a completely redesigned system for data entry that takes all of the monotonous pain out of the process and helps you get to the charts as quickly as possible. There are just three sheets — Assets, Portfolios, and Charts. And I spent as much time working on the data entry UI as I did on the charts.
Beyond the drastically improved interface that eliminates unnecessary complexity and allows you to do helpful things like copy and paste the entire block of asset data at once, the Toolkit also has an awesome new feature. Just like the online tools, it now includes the Portfolio Matrix, Risk and Return, and Rank Over Time charts! So you can enter any asset data you want, save up to 25 portfolios, and instantly compare them all.
Fun fact: I actually used a tweaked version of the new Toolkit to generate the Risk and Return charts in my recent article about financial tsunamis and baseline returns. So now you can create similar visuals for yourself.
If you happen to be a power user who misses some of the more technical data conversion features that are no longer part of the tool, don’t worry. I’m also looking at ways to make some fancy conversion spreadsheets as separate downloads. It will just take time, as I want to do them right and make them just as easy to use. And in the meantime, the new-and-improved Toolkit should be a lot more accessible for everyone.
For more information about the Toolkit, be sure to read its dedicated walkthrough page. The short story is that the Toolkit is a mirror of what you see in the My Portfolio tool or in any of the charts in the Portfolio pages. The big benefit is that you have the power to easily add your own data not found on the site.
If you’ve purchased the Toolkit before, be on the lookout for an email with a free update. And if you’ve ever downloaded the free sample, you may also receive your own email with the new version. Even if you tried it before and decided it wasn’t for you, check it out!
A lot has changed, and the new Toolkit may be exactly the tool you’re looking for.
Lend a Helpful Hand
With so many changes touching every aspect of Portfolio Charts, it’s inevitable that there will be a few bugs that I haven’t discovered yet. Maybe a tool acts strangely in a certain situation, an example ETF seems out of place, or the Toolkit has a glitch somewhere. That’s where you come in.
Portfolio Charts is run by one person, and there is no internal quality control team to test every feature. But I have a great external one — you — and I’m always open to constructive feedback. So if you see something, say something! Contact me with anything at all, and I’ll be sure to add your observation to the list for future fixes.
While I’m at it, I’d like to make a special request from any Swedish readers out there. You may notice that the suggested ETF list is pretty sparse for funds in Sweden, and that’s mostly because I’m having a tough time finding good fund info. If you have some suggestions, please send them my way.
And for Toolkit customers, don’t be surprised if you see multiple emails in the coming weeks and months with spreadsheet updates. I’m not trying to be a pest, but simply to deliver on my promise of a useful tool. If there are any features that you think would make the Toolkit even better, I’d love to to hear those, too!
Powerful Tools for Normal People
There are probably more changes that have just slipped my mind. But these should give you a good flavor of the all-encompassing upgrades. The overall theme is to make things simpler and easier to use and maintain while delivering high-quality content. And the goal, as always, is to broaden the tent for thoughtful investing education.
That overarching mission is what I believe sets apart Portfolio Charts from other investing analysis tools. From providing data for a dozen different countries to distilling those numbers into insightful visuals and explanations that a financial layperson can understand, the mission is so much more than just raw backtesting of US funds that dominates so much of the financial space. And new features like ETF recommendations in every country expand that even further, bridging the gap from academic insights to actionable portfolio-building steps.
Portfolio Charts is more than just a blog or a backtesting calculator. It’s an educational guide to direct you to a sustainable investing path.
I spend so much time working on the little details not just because I find it interesting but also because I think it’s valuable. Hopefully you feel the same way. So set aside some time to explore the site with all of the new features. Even if you think you’ve seen it all before, I wager that there’s something new to interest you. And if you value all the hard work that goes into creating Portfolio Charts, please consider checking out the Patrons page for ways to give back. It’s not required, but I do appreciate your support.
Thanks for following along! I hope you enjoy the results of all the hard work.
Happy portfolio hunting.
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