How do I track my investment activity?

To track your investment activity in iBank, you must first set up an investment account and then add transactions to the account as you buy and sell securities.

To add an investment transaction:

Select an investment account from the source list and click the plus button at the bottom of the main window to add a new transaction. Choose the appropriate type for the transaction (see below for more information about investment transaction types) and enter the trade date into the date field. Enter a payee and memo if desired, but these are not required for investment transactions. Enter the number of shares involved in the transaction, price per share, and commission if applicable.

Before adding a "Buy" transaction, you will usually need to transfer money into your investment account from another account. Say, for example, that in real life you use $1,000.00 from your checking account to purchase Apple stock. In iBank, you must create two transactions: first, a "Transfer" from your checking account to your investment account; second, a "Buy" transaction in your investment account to purchase the stock.

The transaction's amount will calculate automatically based on the specified number of shares, price per share, and commission (except for cash dividends, for which you must enter the amount manually). The balance is then updated accordingly.

Investment transaction properties:

You will notice that the transaction properties displayed in investment accounts are different from regular transaction properties, including the list of available transaction types. The following security-related fields will become available in the transaction editor (if you do not see the "Security Info" box, click the more info button to reveal additional information, then click show other info if necessary):

Need examples?

Even though iBank can help simplify the process, managing investments is often tricky business. To read several examples of how to track various kinds of investment activities in iBank, see Examples.