When it comes to stocks, you typically get strength in numbers. Owning multiple stocks can potentially lower your risk of losing money because when one company stumbles another might prosper. While it’s good to follow your stocks individually, it’s also important to keep track of the value of your stock portfolio as a whole. Your stock portfolio is the collection of all your shares of stock. Knowing how much you have in stocks can help you determine whether you need to make changes to your financial portfolio.
Step 1
Find out the number of shares of each stock you own from your broker. If you own shares of your employer’s stock in your retirement plan, find out the number of shares from your plan administrator.
Step 2
Visit any financial website that provides stock quotes. Type a stock’s ticker symbol into the stock quote text box and click “Get Quote” to look up its stock price. A ticker symbol is one or more capital letters that are typically related to a company’s name or business. Do this for each stock you own.
Step 3
Multiply the number of shares you own of each stock by its price. For example, assume you own 1,000 shares of a $5 stock, 500 shares of a $20 stock and 750 shares of a $15 stock. Multiply 1,000 by $5 to get $5,000. Multiply 500 by $20 to get $10,000. Multiply 750 by $15 to get $11,250.
Step 4
Add each of your results to determine the total value of your stocks. In this example, add $5,000, $10,000 and $11,250 to get a stock portfolio value of $26,250.
References
Resources
Tips
- The value of your stock portfolio can change daily. Add up your stock shares periodically to see how well you’re doing.