In our TK5 program as well as investment websites such as
Vanguard, they offer a report/graph that shows the portfolio
value vs. cost over a period of time. We used to use this
graph to help track our performance over time. Does Bivio
offer a similar report?

Sorry, I meant NCA instead of TK5.

Robert Morita wrote:
> In our TK5 program as well as investment websites such as
> Vanguard, they offer a report/graph that shows the portfolio
> value vs. cost over a period of time. We used to use this
> graph to help track our performance over time. Does Bivio
> offer a similar report?

Robert Morita writes:
> In our TK5 program as well as investment websites such as
> Vanguard, they offer a report/graph that shows the portfolio
> value vs. cost over a period of time. We used to use this
> graph to help track our performance over time. Does Bivio
> offer a similar report?

We have a simple approach to performance on bivio.com: compare apples
to apples, and try to produce a single number that sums up that
comparison. If you look at bivio's Performance Benchmark Report,
you'll get an exact cashflow comparison of one apple (your club's
AIRR) with another apple (another fund's AIRR). This lets your club
see if it is doing better than other investment strategies using
exactly the same capital contributions and withdrawals.

While we are not opposed to graphs, per se, if we were to graph
anything, it would have to be an dollar-for-dollar comparison, e.g.,
showing the Performance Benchmark over time.

One of the reasons people thought they were doing so well during the
Internet Bubble is that they were comparing their costs to market
value. They thought it was exceptional stock picking ability, when in
reality, the entire market was going up. To be a superior stock
picker, you have to beat "something", not just make a profit. That's
what the Performance Benchmark Report tells you, and we have yet to
see a better indicator for evaluating a portfolio's performance.

Cheers,
Rob

Thanks Rob. Comparison to a benchmark is fine too, whether
it's the S&P 500, Dow, or Total Stock Market. If it could
be tracked over time, that would be wonderful.

Maybe it's just subtle differences, but I was with Bivio
years ago and only restarted last year. In the time that I
was away, I didn't notice a whole lot of changes to the
report offerings. I was hoping that different analytical
reports would have been developed since.

If Bivio is open to suggestions, I'd like to add a vote in
favor of such as report that shows club performance to a
benchmark over time, as well as combining the Member Status
and Member Performance reports into one.

Thanks for the response.


Rob Nagler wrote:
> Robert Morita writes:
> > In our TK5 program as well as investment websites such as
> > Vanguard, they offer a report/graph that shows the portfolio
> > value vs. cost over a period of time. We used to use this
> > graph to help track our performance over time. Does Bivio
> > offer a similar report?
>
> We have a simple approach to performance on bivio.com: compare apples
> to apples, and try to produce a single number that sums up that
> comparison. If you look at bivio's Performance Benchmark Report,
> you'll get an exact cashflow comparison of one apple (your club's
> AIRR) with another apple (another fund's AIRR). This lets your club
> see if it is doing better than other investment strategies using
> exactly the same capital contributions and withdrawals.
>
> While we are not opposed to graphs, per se, if we were to graph
> anything, it would have to be an dollar-for-dollar comparison, e.g.,
> showing the Performance Benchmark over time.
>
> One of the reasons people thought they were doing so well during the
> Internet Bubble is that they were comparing their costs to market
> value. They thought it was exceptional stock picking ability, when in
> reality, the entire market was going up. To be a superior stock
> picker, you have to beat "something", not just make a profit. That's
> what the Performance Benchmark Report tells you, and we have yet to
> see a better indicator for evaluating a portfolio's performance.
>
> Cheers,
> Rob

Robert Morita writes:
> Thanks Rob. Comparison to a benchmark is fine too, whether
> it's the S&P 500, Dow, or Total Stock Market. If it could
> be tracked over time, that would be wonderful.

In can be, actually, it has to be. The only way to compute AIRR is to
recompute it over the period, every time.

> Maybe it's just subtle differences, but I was with Bivio
> years ago and only restarted last year. In the time that I
> was away, I didn't notice a whole lot of changes to the
> report offerings. I was hoping that different analytical
> reports would have been developed since.

This is an interesting point. We don't focus on "flash" but rather
focus on the "beef". Since you left, we've added support for five
State tax forms. We have also added other brokers to our automatic
import list, and a feature which allows you to import a Quicken file
from any financial institution. All of this has been included in our
service "free of charge", whereas our competitor (Iclub, not NCA,
which no longer exists :-) charges a lot more for less service.

It's a tough thing for us. Our goal is to eliminate the job of
treasurer so that clubs can focus on the more important business of
evaluating their stocks, instead of worrying about the minutiae of
recording transactions and filling out tax returns.

One thing I've been finding at investment fairs is that people don't
need courses to use bivio. I have people come up to me all the time,
and say, "I use bivio, and it seems to just work. Do I need to go to
your class?" That's music to my ears, and tells me we are doing a
good job of satisfying our customer base, even though it has doubled
in size over the last year.

> If Bivio is open to suggestions, I'd like to add a vote in
> favor of such as report that shows club performance to a
> benchmark over time, as well as combining the Member Status
> and Member Performance reports into one.

We will consider this. It's not on the top of our list, however. The
top items are more state tax forms and electronic filing. We hope to
complete these by this tax season although we can make no
promises. :-)

Cheers,
Rob

>> If Bivio is open to suggestions, I'd like to add a vote in favor of such as report that shows club performance to a benchmark over time, as well as combining the Member Status and Member Performance reports into one. <<

> We will consider this. It's not on the top of our list, however. The top items are more state tax forms and electronic filing. <

I agree with your priorities.

If you do at some point to decide to add some sort of
performance vs. benchmark graph over time, please consider
something in the spirit of this (which I currently do for my
club using a spreadsheet).
http://www.bivio.com/irw/files/PublicFiles/Benchmarking/IRRHistory/IRRHistory.html

-Jim Thomas

Jim Thomas writes:
> If you do at some point to decide to add some sort of
> performance vs. benchmark graph over time, please consider
> something in the spirit of this (which I currently do for my
> club using a spreadsheet).

Maybe we'll have you program it. ;-)

Seriously, we do want to add graphics since it is a competitive
advantage, and we greatly appreciate everybody's feedback.

Cheers,
Rob

Nice. Something like that would work. If you had the
option to choose the comparison index, that would be
awesome. I might have to trudge through our valuation dates
to do something similar to Jim's. Thanks.


Jim Thomas wrote:
> >> If Bivio is open to suggestions, I'd like to add a vote in favor of such as report that shows club performance to a benchmark over time, as well as combining the Member Status and Member Performance reports into one. <<
>
> > We will consider this. It's not on the top of our list, however. The top items are more state tax forms and electronic filing. <
>
> I agree with your priorities.
>
> If you do at some point to decide to add some sort of
> performance vs. benchmark graph over time, please consider
> something in the spirit of this (which I currently do for my
> club using a spreadsheet).
> http://www.bivio.com/irw/files/PublicFiles/Benchmarking/IRRHistory/IRRHistory.html
>
> -Jim Thomas