Back testing a fund

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CWRadio
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Back testing a fund

Post by CWRadio »

I would like to back test DFQTX (DFA US Core Equity 2 Inst) from 2013 to now without using Portfolio Visualizer. Is there any other program I could enter the same information as Portfolio Visualizer and check results but has the options of putting in amounts and dates of withdrawals. Thanks Paul
sycamore
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Re: Back testing a fund

Post by sycamore »

CWRadio wrote: Mon May 31, 2021 9:36 pm I would like to back test DFQTX (DFA US Core Equity 2 Inst) from 2013 to now without using Portfolio Visualizer. Is there any other program I could enter the same information as Portfolio Visualizer and check results but has the options of putting in amounts and dates of withdrawals. Thanks Paul
None that I know of that let you put in withdrawal amounts. I'd be interested to see what others suggest.

You can get basic total return data from Morningstar. Browse to http://quotes.morningstar.com/chart/fund/chart?t=DFQTX. Just change the start and end dates. Move the mouse along the curve to see how much the investment was worth on a particular date. Also, you can add ticker symbols if you want to compare against other funds/ETFs. It also lets you compare against various benchmarks.
dbr
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Re: Back testing a fund

Post by dbr »

I haven't heard of an app that lets you interact by adding a table of contributions and withdrawals by date. The meaningful result in that case would not be return and all the results related to the return but rather would be IRR and/or the time weighted return. I am not completely clear on what it would mean to try to compute standard deviation of annual returns, a Sharpe ratio, or anything like that in such a case.
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: Back testing a fund

Post by TomatoTomahto »

Quicken could do this, but it’s probably overkill.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
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CWRadio
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Re: Back testing a fund

Post by CWRadio »

You ask why I am doing this calculation since it is not very useful in the big picture. Best to focus on the future.
I trying to do a audit on one of my fund holding since Dec 2012. My current statement does not match my results. So I was looking for another program to check my answers.
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Nate79
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Re: Back testing a fund

Post by Nate79 »

MS excel and daily fund prices and distributions. It's not that hard.
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CWRadio
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Re: Back testing a fund

Post by CWRadio »

CWRadio wrote: Wed Jun 02, 2021 7:17 am You ask why I am doing this calculation since it is not very useful in the big picture. Best to focus on the future.
I trying to do a audit on one of my fund holding since Dec 2012. My current statement does not match my results. So I was looking for another program to check my answers.
I asked Fidelity holder of my IRA to do a audit on one fund. Waiting for the results. Paul
rotorhead
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Re: Back testing a fund

Post by rotorhead »

CWRadio, in addition to what has been suggested here:
Re: Back testing a fund
Post by sycamore » Tue Jun 01, 2021 7:54 am

CWRadio wrote: ↑Mon May 31, 2021 10:36 pm
I would like to back test DFQTX (DFA US Core Equity 2 Inst) from 2013 to now without using Portfolio Visualizer. Is there any other program I could enter the same information as Portfolio Visualizer and check results but has the options of putting in amounts and dates of withdrawals. Thanks Paul
None that I know of that let you put in withdrawal amounts. I'd be interested to see what others suggest.

You can get basic total return data from Morningstar. Browse to http://quotes.morningstar.com/chart/fund/chart?t=DFQTX. Just change the start and end dates. Move the mouse along the curve to see how much the investment was worth on a particular date. Also, you can add ticker symbols if you want to compare against other funds/ETFs. It also lets you compare against various benchmarks.
you might try establishing a Morningstar account. It's free, and they won't bother you too much with ads, etc; and you can create portfolio(s) and track them. A little bit of learning curve; but works pretty well. I've been using it for years, to run "shadow" portfolios for comparisons to my own, which I mange via Quicken.

Go to the Morningstar site https://www.morningstar.com/, then upper right corner, Sign Up, and follow the prompts to establish Morningstar account. After you've done that, you can create a porfolio. You can input purchases and withdrawals; and using the site's tools, input dividends/splits, etc as well.

It's not totally intuitive; and takes a bit of effort to sort it all out; but it really works pretty well once you get going. I manage 3 portfolios there, one going back to 2012, and it works fine for my purposes.

Shouldn't take you too much time, depending on how many purchases/withdrawals, you've had during the 8 years you're trying to track.

Certainly worth a try.

Good luck.
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CWRadio
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Re: Back testing a fund

Post by CWRadio »

Thanks rotorhead.
I made a one fund portfolio (DFQTX) at Morningstar as you suggested. Added dividends and withdrawals. The different now is only a few hundred dollars. Rounding errors.
Good advice rotohead on back testing, Paul
rotorhead
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Re: Back testing a fund

Post by rotorhead »

Glad it worked out for you. It really is quite a useful tool.
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