Add a Dividend
The Add a Dividend feature in Pro Stock Tracker offers a user-friendly way to manually input your dividend income, including the ability to track dividend reinvestments, providing an accurate reflection of your investment income.
Understanding the interface
Navigation
To add a new dividend, go to the individual holding page for the relevant asset and click the New Dividend button located above the Dividend Summary table.
Input fields
A popup will appear with the following fields:
- Ex-dividend date: The date on or after which a security no longer includes the right to receive a previously declared dividend or distribution.
- Paid on: The date the dividend was deposited into your account. This field is optional.
- Dividend currency: The currency in which the dividend was issued.
- Gross dividend: The total dividend amount before taxes, in the issued dividend currency.
- Withholding tax: Any taxes withheld from the dividend, in the issued dividend currency.
- Net: The final amount deposited into your account, in your portfolio currency.
- Dividend reinvested (checkbox): Check this box if the dividend was used to purchase additional shares or units of the same investment.
Most of these fields will be auto-populated for automatic dividend transactions. You can confirm, edit, or reject the auto-populated values.
Additional fields for reinvested dividends
Selecting the "Dividend Reinvested" checkbox will display additional relevant fields, particularly useful for those participating in Dividend Reinvestment Plans (DRIPs):
- Reinvestment date: The date on which the dividend was reinvested.
- Share price: The purchase price of the holding in the holding's currency.
- Quantity: The number of shares or units purchased with the reinvested dividend.
- Exchange rate: The exchange rate between the portfolio and holding's currency.
Note: Some fields may be hidden based on the nature of the holding. For example, the exchange rate may not be visible if the holding and portfolio currencies are the same.
Saving and error checking
Click "Save" to finalize the dividend entry. You can also click "Add Another Dividend" to quickly add multiple dividends.
Pro Stock Tracker includes a built-in error-checking system to ensure data accuracy and prevent inconsistencies. For example, if you try to save a dividend on a holding with zero quantity on the day before the ex-dividend date, Pro Stock Tracker will not allow it and will display an error message explaining the reason. Therefore, it is best to record all trades in the trade table in chronological order before adding dividends to avoid these types of errors.
Common errors
The app will detect and notify you of various dividend errors, including:
- Dividends entered for holdings with zero quantity on the day before the ex-dividend date.
- Paid on dates before the ex-dividend date.
- Withholding tax exceeding or equaling the gross dividend amount.
- Reinvestment dates before the ex-dividend date.
- Net dividend amounts of zero or less.
- Other potential errors based on specific holding types and trade history.
You will be provided with guidance on resolving any detected errors, ensuring accurate and reliable portfolio tracking.
Additional notes
When managing your dividends in Pro Stock Tracker, it's important to be aware of the following points:
- Editing an automatically generated dividend will remove the message icon, and the values will be saved against the holding. These values will no longer automatically recalculate if you change past trades.
- A reinvested dividend is treated as a buy transaction and will trigger additional error checks related to buy trades.
- Some error checks are only performed when adding or editing dividends, not when deleting dividends or modifying trades. This allows flexibility in adjusting trade history without unnecessary errors.
Pro Stock Tracker's robust Add a Dividend feature, along with its error verification system, guarantees that your portfolio data remains precise, current, and customized to your unique investment activities. By mastering the interface and using the provided fields, you can confidently track your investment income and dividend reinvestments.