Portfolio Tracker: What These Apps Show — and What They Miss
Key takeaways
- A portfolio tracker answers one question very well: how is my portfolio doing?
- It structurally does not show what lies outside the portfolio — cash, property, debt.
- Two data routes: broker connection or your own import. Both have a price.
- A return is not just a return — two apps can show different figures for the same portfolio without either calculating wrongly.
- With a foreign broker, German tax is not withheld for you — a tracker does not change that.
Portfolio trackers are the most specialised of the five app categories. They do one thing very well — and that is both their value and their limit.
What a portfolio tracker does
The category brings securities together and answers questions that lie within the portfolio:
- Value and performance over time, usually with a benchmark index
- Allocation by asset class, region, sector — and with it concentration risks
- Dividends and distributions, often with a calendar
- Costs, as far as the data allows
If you have more than one portfolio, this is the first place you get a coherent picture. That is the actual reason the category exists next to broker apps: your bank shows your portfolio with them, not your holdings overall.
Where the category ends
A portfolio tracker sees the portfolio. It does not see:
- your savings account and your emergency fund
- your property and the remaining mortgage on it
- your running expenses and your savings rate
That is not a flaw but the design. It only becomes a problem when the number in the tracker is mistaken for “my wealth”. With €60,000 in the portfolio and €30,000 of remaining loan, the tracker shows a number that is half the truth. The difference between portfolio and wealth is covered in detail in Net worth tracker.
The two data routes
| Route | Strength | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Broker connection | set up once, then up to date | depends on coverage: what your provider does not support is missing — and several brokers mean several connections |
| Your own import | works with every provider, including foreign ones | effort: you bring the data yourself, but you depend on no interface |
How to get at your own data is described in Export your bank statement as CSV.
A return is not just a return
This is where most comparisons tip over. Two apps show different returns for the same portfolio — and both calculate correctly:
- The time-weighted return ignores when you paid money in. It measures the investment: how well did it perform?
- The money-weighted return (internal rate of return) includes the timing of your deposits and withdrawals. It measures your result: what came out for you?
With a savings plan the two figures are often noticeably apart. If you kept paying into a falling market, your money-weighted return is better than your time-weighted one — and vice versa. Before comparing two apps, it is worth asking which figure they show in the first place.
If your broker is not German
This is the part most trackers do not mention, and it matters for anyone who kept an account from abroad. A German broker withholds the flat-rate tax on capital income (Abgeltungsteuer) automatically, applies your tax-free allowance if you have filed an exemption order (Freistellungsauftrag), and issues an annual tax certificate. A foreign broker generally does none of this for German tax purposes: the income — including the German advance lump sum on funds (Vorabpauschale) — is yours to declare in your tax return (Anlage KAP).
A tracker can collect the figures, but it does not file anything and it is not your tax basis. The broker’s statements remain the documents that count.
When the category suits you
A portfolio tracker is the right choice if your portfolio essentially is your wealth and you want depth: allocation, single holdings, distributions.
If your money is instead spread across accounts, portfolios and perhaps a property, the tracker answers the smaller question very well and the bigger one not at all. Then the category net worth app is the better starting point.
sum shows your portfolios in the full picture — value and performance of your investments next to accounts, valuables and debt, so the one number at the end is right. For order execution and tax documents your broker stays responsible; sum is the overview on top, not a replacement. Today your data comes in via CSV import; the automatic bank connection (PSD2) is in the works.
Frequently asked questions
What does a portfolio tracker do?
It brings your securities together and shows value, performance, allocation and often dividends. Its strength is depth within the portfolio — positions, regions, asset classes. Everything outside the portfolio is outside its job.
Do I need a portfolio tracker if my broker has an app?
If you only have one portfolio with one provider, usually not — the broker app shows the same. A tracker becomes interesting from the second portfolio onwards, because your holdings are then complete in no single app.
Why do two apps show different returns for the same portfolio?
Because they calculate differently. The time-weighted return measures the investment itself; the money-weighted return measures your result including the timing of your deposits. With savings plans the two differ noticeably — that is not an error, it is a different question.
Does a portfolio tracker replace my tax documents?
No. What counts are your broker’s statements and tax certificates. A tracker can give pointers but is not a basis for your tax return.
Read on
- Net worth tracker: wealth is more than transactions
- Finance apps compared: what each category is made for
- Finance apps and privacy
- Calculate your net worth
Sources
- Time-weighted and money-weighted return: standard definitions of performance measurement (including the GIPS framework).
- Own analysis of the functional categories; as of September 2026. Individual products are deliberately not rated, because feature sets change constantly.
This article is for information only and does not constitute investment or tax advice.
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