A.I.M. Users Bulletin Board

[OldAIMGuy]

Hi Lou, There's a way to do it using information from Newport,
but it doesn't do it automatically. The way that comes to mind
is from the PRINT menu. Print the trade history of the
stock/fund in question. At the top of the page, write in your
initial investment in shares at the price you started.

From that information you should be able to calculate the
average cost per share of your holdings. Note that when you sell
shares in this type of calculation, you are selling "average"
shares only.

Let's say you have 1000 shares at $10 ea. as your starting point.

 
 DATE   Shares     Price   Shares   Price   Total   Total     Ave.Cost/Share    
        Purchased          Sold             Owned    Cost 
 01/00  1000       $10.00    0              1000    $10,000      $10.00 
 02/00   100       $ 7.00    0              1100    $10,700      $ 9.73 
 03/00     0                100     $11.00  1000    $ 9,730      $ 9.73 
 04/00   200       $ 6.50    0              1200    $11,030      $ 9.19 
 

Over time you will see average cost per share changing with all
purchase transactions, but not with sale transactions. You use
the previous total cost plus the additional expense of the newly
purchased shares to come up with a new total expense. Then you
divide by the new total number of shares to come up with the new
average cost.

In a steeply rising cyclical pattern you'll actually see the
average cost rise. You will be selling shares of one average
cost, but possibly be buying back shares at a higher cost than
your average. Don't worry about this, the math is correct.

You can build a simple spreadsheet of this activity and the
calculations. It is handy to have the computer do the calcs. for
you. Hope this helps.

Best regards, Tom