How to Use the Portfolio Analytics Suite (Complete Walkthrough)

Getting to the analytics suite

First, you need a saved portfolio. Go to the Portfolio Builder, add your stocks or ETFs, set your allocation, and click Save. Then click Analytics from your dashboard — or navigate directly to the analytics page. Your portfolio loads with 9 tabs of tools. Here’s what each one does and how to use it.

Tab 1: Overview

Your portfolio’s home screen. It shows three things at a glance:

• Today’s movers: Which of your holdings went up or down today, sorted by impact. This tells you what’s driving your portfolio’s daily movement.
• Sector allocation: A pie chart showing how your money is distributed across sectors (Technology, Healthcare, Financials, etc.). If one sector dominates, you’re less diversified than you think. Read our diversification guide to understand why this matters.
• Portfolio stats: Key metrics like total value, number of holdings, blended dividend yield, and overall portfolio CAGR.

Tab 2: Projection (Monte Carlo)

This is the most powerful tool in the suite. It runs 1,000 simulated futures for your portfolio based on your holdings’ actual historical returns and volatility. Instead of one line showing "your money will grow to X," you see a fan of possible outcomes — pessimistic, median, and optimistic.

Key controls:

• Time horizon: How many years to project (1–40 years)
• Monthly contribution: Additional money you plan to invest each month
• Inflation toggle: Switch between nominal and real (inflation-adjusted) projections. Always use the inflation-adjusted view for retirement planning.

The Monte Carlo projection doesn’t predict the future — it shows you the realistic range of outcomes so you can plan for the downside, not just hope for the upside.

The projection chart shows three key percentile bands: the 5th percentile (bear case), median (base case), and 95th percentile (bull case). If even the bear case meets your goal, you’re in great shape. If you need the bull case to succeed, your plan needs adjusting. Learn more about how compound interest drives these projections.

Tab 3: Performance

Shows how your portfolio has actually performed over the past 1, 3, 5, and 10 years. This tab uses real historical data to calculate:

• Normalised performance chart: All holdings rebased to 100 so you can visually compare how each stock performed over the same period, regardless of price level.
• Key metrics: Volatility, Sharpe ratio, max drawdown, best/worst year, beta, and dividend yield for each holding side by side.

Use this tab to identify your best and worst performers and decide whether to rebalance.

Tab 4: vs S&P 500

The benchmark tab. It answers the most important question in investing: am I actually beating the market?

It compares your portfolio’s performance against the S&P 500 over 1Y, 3Y, 5Y, and 10Y periods. If the S&P 500 consistently beats your portfolio, you might be better off simply holding VOO or VTI. If you’re outperforming, you know your stock picks are adding value. See our S&P 500 historical returns article for context on what the benchmark typically delivers.

Tab 5: Holdings

A detailed table of every stock and ETF in your portfolio. For each holding you’ll see:

• Ticker, name, and current price
• Your allocation weight (%)
• Historical CAGR
• Dividend yield
• If you’ve marked it as "owned" — your shares, buy price, current value, and unrealised P&L

This is also where you can toggle between the model portfolio (target allocation) and your real holdings (actual shares owned at specific prices).

Tab 6: Rebalance

Over time, your portfolio drifts from your target allocation. If tech stocks rally, they might grow from 40% to 55% of your portfolio. The Rebalance tab shows:

• Current vs target weight for each holding
• Drift amount — how far each position has moved from target
• Action required — exactly how many dollars to buy or sell to get back on target
• Cash deployment — if you have new cash to invest, it shows how to deploy it to bring your portfolio closer to target

Pro and Investor users also get the AI Rebalancing Advisor, which explains in plain English why your portfolio drifted, which trades matter most, and how the rebalanced mix compares historically.

Tab 7: Transactions

A complete log of every buy, sell, contribution, and dividend in your portfolio. Each transaction records:

• Date, type (buy/sell/dividend/contribution), ticker, shares, price
• Optional notes
• Running impact on your total invested and P&L

You can add manual transactions, and the system also creates automatic entries when you set up recurring contributions (auto-buy). Transactions can be deleted with a 10-second undo window.

Tab 8: Dividends

Everything about your portfolio’s income stream:

• Summary cards: Annual dividend income, yield on cost, and estimated monthly income
• Monthly bar chart: Which months pay the most, helping you plan cash flow
• Dividend calendar: A month-by-month grid showing exactly which stocks pay in which months and how much
• Ex-dividend dates: Upcoming dates you need to own the stock by to receive the next payment

This tab is especially useful if you’re building an income portfolio or approaching retirement.

Tab 9: Analytics

The deepest tab — professional-grade risk and return metrics. It contains four main tools:

Sharpe Ratio

Measures your portfolio’s risk-adjusted return. A Sharpe ratio above 1.0 is considered good, above 2.0 is excellent. It answers: "Am I being compensated enough for the risk I’m taking?" Your portfolio’s Sharpe is shown side-by-side with the S&P 500’s for comparison.

Beta

Measures how much your portfolio moves relative to the S&P 500. A beta of 1.0 means it moves in lockstep. Below 1.0 is defensive (less volatile than the market). Above 1.0 is aggressive (more volatile). This helps you understand whether your portfolio amplifies or dampens market swings.

Max Drawdown

The worst peak-to-trough decline your portfolio would have experienced historically. If your max drawdown is -35%, that means at some point you would have watched 35% of your portfolio value disappear. This is the most visceral risk metric — it tells you the worst pain you need to be prepared for.

Correlation Matrix

A grid showing how each pair of your holdings moves relative to each other. High correlation (close to +1) means they move together — bad for diversification. Low or negative correlation means they offset each other — great for diversification. Use this to identify holdings that are redundant (highly correlated) vs complementary (low correlation).

Pro users also get AI Analysis powered by Claude Sonnet, which reads all these metrics and explains in plain English what your portfolio’s strengths and weaknesses are, with specific actionable suggestions.

Recommended workflow

Here’s the order most experienced users follow when reviewing their portfolio:

• 1. Overview — Quick health check. Any big movers? Sector balance OK?
• 2. Performance — Which holdings are dragging? Which are carrying?
• 3. vs S&P 500 — Am I beating the benchmark? If not, why keep these picks?
• 4. Analytics — Check Sharpe (risk-adjusted return), Beta (market sensitivity), and Max Drawdown (worst-case pain)
• 5. Rebalance — Has anything drifted more than 5% from target? If so, rebalance.
• 6. Dividends — Check upcoming ex-dates and monthly income forecast
• 7. Projection — Run a Monte Carlo to see if you’re still on track for your goal

Do this quarterly. Monthly if you enjoy it. Daily if you want anxiety. We recommend quarterly.

This article is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or tax advice. Analytics tools provide historical analysis and simulated projections, not guarantees of future performance.