(11-26-2013, 06:14 PM)Kerim Wrote: But this is nonsense, I am now thinking. Those “extra” 22 shares were not “extra” at all. They were purchase decisions with “my money” just as much as the original 250 shares, and I should track and think about them in exactly the same way. And it will change the apparent returns. This will require a mental and spreadsheet overhaul. I am not excited about tracking every single dividend payout and reinvestment, but I think I may have to go down that road if I really want an accurate picture.
On my spreadsheet I have a section for for each stock I own, with two sections:
1. Initial Shares Bought, date, price, #shares, total cost.
2. Beside those entries I have a section for Dividend Re-investment, with date, price, #shares and total cost.
At the bottom, about 200 rows down I add the totals and record my Totals shares, Totals cost and my Average cost of the shares.
I record the dividend re-investment each quarter for each stock I own. I also consider the dividend as part of my Total Investment ( or as new money invested).