Automate Your Investment Life by Tim du Toit

eurosharelab.com

Dear Fellow Investor Thank you for your purchase of this eBook. My only aim with the book is to save you time and make your investment life easier. In it you will find detailed instructions to, with the least effort:  Find investment ideas  Analyse them  Sort and organise your research so you can easily and quickly find the information you need  Get updated news on all the companies you choose to follow without you having to search for it  Automatically update the share prices of your portfolio It’s basically a how-to book of the tools I use every day to manage own investments as well as the recommendations of various investment newsletters I write. Help is an email away Even though I have worked really hard to make the instructions as easy as possible for you to follow I may have left something out. An immediate answer to your question may be available on the frequently asked questions (FAQ) page which you can look at by clicking on the following link: FAQ - Automate your investment life If there is anything you don’t understand or if I have left anything out please let me know at [email protected] and I will help you immediately. Want your money back? – Just one email You should save time and be completely happy with your purchase. If you are not let me know and I will immediately refund what you paid for the book. Simply email me at the following address: [email protected] I won't earn anything Let me say up front that I have no association with any of the web sites or products mentioned in the book. I will also not earn anything should you choose to subscribe or buy something from them. To your investment success

Index Chapter #1 - How you can optimally use the best free screener in the internet

5

 How to find it

6

 Hardest part is over  Predefined screens - value investment

7

 Easy and quick to customise  Save your own screen  Set up your own customised screen

8

 43 criteria you can use to screen with

9

 See how all companies are distributed

11

 What do the criteria mean?  How to set up a simple screen

12

 View the screen output

13

Chapter #2 - Automatically import five years of financial data into a spread sheet

15

 Register your free account at Reuters

15

 How to log into your Reuters account

16

 Accessing five years of financial data on the Reuters website

17

Index

Chapter #3 - How to install the SMF Microsoft Excel add-in

19

 Join Yahoo Groups

19

 Download the Add-In

20

 How to install the Add-In

21

Chapter #4 - How to Import financial data directly from Reuters into Microsoft Excel

22

 Importing information to the spread sheet

24

Chapter #5 - Trick to get the spread sheet to work

31

Chapter #6 - How to save organise and retrieve your research

35

 Create an Evernote Account

35

 Two ways to use Evernote  Installing Evernote software

36

 Also install the browser add-on  Evernote software on your computer  Create notebook

37

Index  Saving your first article

39

 Adding additional search terms  Searching the articles you have saved

40

 Tagging your articles

41

 Evernote can do a lot more for you

43

Chapter #7 - Managing your portfolio - how to automatically import share prices into a spread sheet

44

 How to add a company in the spread sheet

45

 Two ways to update the spread sheet

47

 How to add a company to your portfolio

48

Chapter #8 - How to automatically get updated information on all the companies in your portfolio daily

49

 Set up a Google account

49

 Define your search

50

 What it can be used for

51

Chapter #1 - How you can optimally use the best free screener in the internet The screener is free Step 1

To get access to the stock screener the first thing you have to do is open a free account. To do this click on the following link which will take you to the registration page. Financial Times registration page ..0 In the column with the heading Free click Select as

Step 2

On the next page complete the required registration information and click on the button that says Continue.

Be sure to make a note of the e-mail address and password you entered because you will need it to log into the website. Once you have registered and confirmed your subscriptions through the e-mail the Financial Times sent you the next step is to log into the website. To do that go to www.ft.com Step 3 Then click on Sign in at the top right of the website as shown below:

Enter the e-mail address and password you selected when you registered.

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How to find it Step 4

The easiest way to find the stock screener is to type the word screener into the top right search box as shown below. Step 5

In the search results click on the hyperlink that says Equity Screener

Then click on Global Equity Screener Step 6

Finally you will see the Equity screener page which looks like this:

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Hardest part is over Once you have gotten to this point you have completed all the hard work. Now all you have to do is to define your search, get the results and start analysing the companies you want to buy. Before I show you how you can do your own customised screening first a few shortcuts.

Predefined screens - value investment

The Financial Times has set up a few pre-defined screen which can save you a lot of time. . Step 7

To access the predefined screens click the tab that says FT predefined screens as shown below: If you look at the predefined screens I am sure you will agree that the person at the Financial Times that defined the screens must be a value investor as all four predefined screens are all value screens with the following names:  A Warren Buffett screen  A Ben Graham value investing screen  A “growth at a reasonable price” screen  A Martin Zweig screen With a single click on the two hyperlinks to the right of the screen you can either view the companies the screener has come up with or view the screen definitions as shown below:

Step 8

This is handy as you can quickly see how many names the screen came up with as well as the exact screening criteria.

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Easy and quick to customise Calling up one of these predefined screens criteria and then changing it to suit your needs is also an easy way for you to define a value investing screen without having to set everything up yourself. To save your custom screen all you have to do is call up the preSave your own screen defined screen criteria as shown above, modify it to suit your own taste, and then save it as one of your screens by clicking on the button shown below:

Step 9

Set up your own customised screen Step 10

To do this you have to get back to the screening homepage which you can do easily by clicking on the Screener hyperlink at the top right of the page as shown below.

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On the screener homepage in the top part you can limit the screener to only look for companies within a specific country or region or specific industries. Step 11 To do that click on any of the Region or industry Sectors and on the right you will see a list of countries or industry sectors you can select as shown below: Next you have to specify the attributes of the companies you are looking for. You will see that the default screen has got a few criteria already selected, however the screener has got a substantial number of other criteria you can use. Step 12

To change the criteria you would like to use you have to click on the Add additional criteria hyperlink at the bottom right as shown above

43 criteria you can use to screen with

Once you've clicked on the link a Pop-up window will open where you can see a long list of 43 screening criteria. All you have to do is add a tick mark next the criteria you would like to use. Make sure you scroll through the complete list as there are a lot of really interesting ratios you can use.

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In the screenshot below you can see some of the valuation factors you can use to screen with. Step 13

When you have finished selecting all the criteria you would like to use make sure you click on the Add Selective Criteria at the bottom right of the window to add what you have selected to the screener. Step 14

You will then see a page of a lot of sliders where you can select exactly what values the screening criteria must have for the company to be added to the results of the screen.

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See how companies are distributed Step 14

Another valuable feature is inside each slider it shows exactly how the total universe of nearly 40,000 companies are distributed in the form of a bar chart. You have to look closely as it is shown in light grey as shown in the screenshot below.

An example Step 15

For example if you want to screen for companies with:  a dividend yield of between 5.0% and 16.0% and  a price to book value between 0.4 and 1.0 it will look as follows:

On the right you will see Criteria Matches, this shows you within the total universe of companies 4 289 companies have a dividend yield of between 5.0% and 16.0% and that there are 8 818 companies that currently trade at a price to book value of between 0.4 and 1.0 times.

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What do the criteria mean? If you don't understand any one of the screening criteria don't worry it's all explained in Financial Times’ Lexicon which you can find by clicking on the following link: Financial Times Lexicon Step 15

In the screenshot below I for example looked up the explanation of Payout ratio.

How to set up a simple screen Now that you know how the screener works let me show you how to quickly and easily set up a simple screener at screens for companies that fit the following criteria:  a dividend yield of more than 4%  a price to earnings ratio between 3 and 10  return on average assets of more than 20%  debt to equity ratio less than 35%  dividend cover of at least two times

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The screen will look as follows:

Step 16

You will see, as indicated by the red arrow above, that the screen came up with a total of 39 companies that fulfilled all of the criteria.

View the screen output Step 17

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To see exactly what companies the screen came up with all you have to do is click on the button that says Views 39 Matches.

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Once you've done that you will see a list that looks as follows:

Step 17

The screener unfortunately only shows 10 companies at a time. To see the remainder of the companies click on the small blue arrow at the bottom right as shown in the above screenshot. You can also change the currency in which values are calculated to either British pounds, US dollars or Euros by clicking on the currency next to Normalise Currency to: as shown with the arrow above. You can also make the table wider and include more information by clicking on the button that says Widescreen View.

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Chapter #2 - Automatically import five years of financial data into a spread sheet In this part of the e-book you will learn how to automatically import five years of:  income statement  balance sheet  cash flow statement

into an Excel spread sheet In the spread sheet you will see an analysis sheet you can either use or change as you see fit. But before you can import the data you have to do two things: 1.

Register your own free account on the Reuters website.

2.

Download and install the SMF Excel add-in (don’t worry its easy and won’t mess up your computer)

Register your free account at Reuters Go to the Reuters website by clicking on the following link: www.reuters.com/finance/markets In the top right of the page click on Sign In

Step 1

On the next page click on the button that says Sign up

Step 2

Fill in the required information and after you have made a note of the e-mail address and password you have selected click on the Register Button Step 3

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How to log into your Reuters account Once you've registered for your Reuters account you may be logged in already, if not do the following to log into your account. You will use the same steps to log in your account every time you go to the Reuters website. Click on the page www.reuters.com/finance/markets

At the top right of the page click on Sign in

Step 4

Step 5

On the next page click on here

Step 6

On the next page type in the e-mail address and password you used to register for the Reuters website then click on Sign in

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Accessing five years of financial data on the Reuters website For you to get access to five years of financial data on the Reuters website is a bit tricky but is easy if you do the following:

Step 7

Once you've logged into the Reuters website in the top right search box as an example type MSFT (the abbreviation for Microsoft)

From the drop-down list that appears click on MSFT.O

Step 8

To access Microsoft financial statements click on the tab that says Financials

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Step 9

Next scroll down the web page and on the right click on View Financial Statements

Then on the left click on Click Here for Full Financial Statement History

Step 10

If you are able to see five years of financial statement data your registration and login on the Reuters website was successful.

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Chapter #3 - How to install the SMF Microsoft Excel add-in In order for you to be able to import information from the Internet directly into Microsoft Excel you've got to install an add-in called SMF. The SFM add-in is available for free only requirement is that you have to join a Yahoo group (also free) where a group of enthusiasts have developed the add-in as well as numerous spread sheets to help you import all kinds of data into Excel.

Join Yahoo Groups In order to get hold of the ad in the first thing you have to do is join the Yahoo group called smf_addin EXCEL Stock Market Functions Add-in. Then on the left click on Click Here To do this go to: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/smf_addin/ for Full Financial Statement History If you already have a Yahoo account on the top right of the page you can log in by clicking on Sign In or if you don't already have a Yahoo account click on Register. Step 1

Once you've successfully registered and logged into your Yahoo account click the button Join This Group! to become a member of the group. Step 2

Once you've received an e-mail confirming that you have been approved as a member of the group you are ready to download the Excel add-in.

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Download the Add-In Go to: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/smf_addin/ On the top left-hand menu click on Files Step 4

Step 3

Then on Add-In Files

Step 5

Then click on the zipped document called RCH_Stock_Market_Functions-2.1.2012.12.29.zip (the file name may have changed to a more recent date) Step 6

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A pop up box will then open asking you if you want to Open or Save File. Choose Save File and save the document where you will be able to easily find it afterwards.

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For instructions on exactly how to install the add-in click on the Links menu item in the top left menu Step 7

How to install the Add-In Click on and read the following files to get exact instructions on where and how to install the add-in on your computer. Make sure you click on the article that describes the process for the version of Microsoft Excel you have on your computer.

Step 8

Make a note of this page because if you have any problems getting the add-in to work further down on this page there is a whole list of articles that describe exactly how you can solve all the problems you may experience. Well done Congratulations at this point you've correctly installed the add-in and are ready to start importing share price and financial statement information directly into Microsoft Excel.

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Chapter #4 - How to Import financial data directly from Reuters into Microsoft Excel To make it as easy as possible for you to immediately start analysing companies and importing data please download two spread sheets called:  Company analysis sheet - 4 years  Company analysis sheet - 5 years by clicking on the following URL. Analysis spread sheets download page (Important: You know that errors can always creep in with a spread sheets so please check all calculations before you start using the sheet) Why two spread sheets? The reason I've given you two spread sheets is when you try to download financial data from the Reuters early in the year for some reason Reuters only makes four years of financial data available. As only four years of financial data causes import and formula errors I suggest that you use the Company analysis sheet - 4 years spread sheet as soon as you see that the Company analysis sheet - 5 years spread sheet is not importing five years of financial data. First make a backup Once you've downloaded the spread sheets make sure that you make a backup copy of both of them because it sometimes happens that you may accidentally overwrite the formulas that import the data, making the spread sheets useless. Also, ensure that you make a backup each time you make adjustments to the spread sheet so the changes don't get lost if you somehow manage to override the formulas in the spread sheet. Getting the spread sheet to work

Step 9

As with all Microsoft Office documents downloaded from the Internet when you first open the document you will get security warning when you first open the spread sheet. Click the button that says: Enable Content as shown above to get the spread sheet to work. Back to Index

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Once you've done that Microsoft Excel will give you the opportunity to:  update the information or the spread sheet or  update the links in the spread sheet. Click on Edit Links button.

Step 10

Then click on RCH_Stock_Market_Functions.xla then on Change Source. Step 11

As source you will have to find the directory you copied the files to as described in the chapter called: How to install the SMF Microsoft Excel add-in most likely C:\Program Files\SMF Add In

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Importing information to the spread sheet In order to import information into the spread sheet you first have to enter some basic information so Excel knows what company to import information of.

To do this click on the Input sheet at the bottom left of the spread sheet. You will see the spread sheet that looks as follows:

Step 12

The following steps will describe exactly where to find the information you must type into the green fields above. 1. Reuters company code In order to get the Reuters company code you have to go to the Reuters website at: http://www.reuters.com/finance/markets And search for the company's name in the top right search box. Finding exactly the company you are looking for maybe a little bit tricky. Step 13

Once you start typing the name of the company in the search box the Reuters website will automatically give you a list of companies that contain the search term you have entered. Should the company you are searching for not be on the list you may be able to find it by shortening the name your looking for (by typing the backspace button on your keyboard a few times). As you do this you will see that the list of company names the Reuters website comes up with changes, hopefully bringing up the name of the company you are looking for.

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Step 14

If you are still unable to find the company are looking for what always works is searching for a well-known company, for example Microsoft. Once Microsoft's name appears on the list click on the company abbreviation. Step 15

Next click on the Financials tab.

Step 16

You will then see search box on the page where you can type in the full or part of the name of the company you are looking for. When you are done click the SEARCH button.

This is the most certain way of finding exactly the company are looking for.

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2.

FT company code

To find the company code the Financial Times uses go to: http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Overview Type the name of the company was looking for into the top right search box. Step 17 The search function on the Financial Times website is a lot better than that of Reuters with the result that if you type in the full company name you are nearly sure to find the company you're looking for. 3. Company Name In this field you can just type in the full company name or cut and paste the name from the Reuters or Financial Times websites.

4.

Share price

In this field simply type in the current share price of the company which you can also get from either the Financial Times or the Reuters websites. Make sure that you always type in the share price currency of the company's main listing. For example if you are analysing a company in the UK do not enter the share price in pence but in British pounds (for example not 124p but £1,24). 5.

Average volume (20 days)

When I analyse a company like to see that the average volume over the past few days is high enough for me to easily buy or sell.

If this information is not important for you can leave it out. Luckily this number is easily available from the Financial Times website.. Just search for a company and once you've found it you can find the average volume number in the table just below the chart. Step 18

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6.

Currency

In this field I type the currency in which the company's financial statements are drawn up in. You may think that it's overkill but it sometimes happens (with quite a few European companies) that the currency the share price is quoted in differs from the currency the company's financial statements are drawn up in. Should a company's financial statements and quoted currency be different you have to convert the quoted currency to the currency of the company’s financial statements or the ratios in the analysis spread sheets will in incorrect.

Step 19

You can find the currency that the company share price is quoted in on the financial times website. You can find the currency of the company's financial statements by first clicking on Financials tab.

Step 20

Step 21

And then on Income statement.

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The currency of the company’s financial statements will be shown at the top of the income statement. Step 22

7.

Year End

At exactly the same place you found the company's reporting currency you can also find its financial year end. Step 23

You may find the company's financial year end valuable because it will immediately tell you how old the financial statements are as well as when you can expect the next results announcement. Once you have entered all the above information it will look like this:

And now you are ready to import the information from the Reuters and Financial Times’ websites. Important Before you go ahead you must make sure that you have:  Followed all the steps in the chapter called How to install the SMF Microsoft Excel add-in and  Logged into the free account you created on the Reuters website (to do so click here http://www.reuters.com/finance/markets)

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Import the data To do this first click on the Reuters tab at the bottom left of the spread sheet. Step 24

Press the keys CTRL SHIFT R on your keyboard together to import the data. Once you have done that wait at least 1 min for the data to import. If it doesn’t work If nothing happens and you still see “Error” in most of the cells on the Spread sheet follow the steps in the chapter called Trick to get the spread sheet to work. This has always worked when I had problems importing data into the spread sheet. Once you have finished working through all the steps in this chapter Trick to get the spread sheet to work go back to the Reuters tab on the spread sheet and press CTRL SHIFT R again. You will then be astounded as all the financial data is imported from Reuters. Step 25

If you click on the tab called

Analysis FY (the FY stands for Full Year) you will see a short form analysis spread sheet as well as investment checklist that I've put together for you. Step 26

You can also click on the tab that says Analysis FQ which shows you quarterly (or if that is not available

half

yearly)

financial

data on the company you have selected

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Convert the formulas to values To ensure that the spread sheet does not update the imported data every time you open it I have built in an easy to use shortcut (called a Macro) to help you. To convert all the imported numbers to values all you have to do is press Cntrl and i together. Important Don’t save the spread sheet now or you will be unable to import any values in future In the spread sheet you will also find a Macro that saves the file for you. All you have to do is press Cntrl and q together. The file will then be saved in the following format: 

.

You can of course save the file yourself clicking on File and the Save As or by pressing the F12 key on the top right of your keyboard.

Step 27

You have done it If you have come to this point you have successfully imported and saved up to five years of fundamental (balance sheet, income and cash flow statement) into a spread sheet to analyse further. Build your own analysis Please remember that this is a normal spread sheet where you can do your own analysis. Thus you are free to change anything in the analysis model, add sheets to the spread sheet or build your own analysis models.

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Chapter #5 - Trick to get the spread sheet to work In spite of your best efforts you may not be able to get the spread sheet to work. A trick that has always worked for me was the following. After you have opened either of the two spread sheets:

Step 1



Company analysis sheet - 4 years



Company analysis sheet - 5 years

In Excel in the top left click File then New and then on Empty Worksheet You should now have an empty spread sheet opened in Microsoft Excel.

Next you want to click on the Data item in the top menu and then on Open External Data then click on From the Web

Step 2

A window will open in the middle of the spread sheet that looks like a small Internet browser. Step 3

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Now log into Reuters

Step 4

Now go to your Internet browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox for example) and log into the Reuters website as described in the chapter “How to log into your Reuters account”

In the top right search box type in DELL.O and select the Dell Inc. Then click on Financials tab.

Then click on Financials tab. Step 5

Then a bit further down the page on the right click on View Financial Statements Then click Annual and then click on the heading that says Click here for full financial statement history Step 7

Step 6

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You should now see five years of annual financial data of Dell Inc.

If you only see one years of financial data or the above link says: Click here for full Financial Statement history (Registration or Login required) you must first log into the Reuters website Now you have to copy the URL of this webpage. To do this click on the URL in the top of your browser to select the complete URL. Step 8

The URL I selected look like this: http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/incomeStatement/detail?perType= ANN&symbol=DELL.O Now go back to Microsoft Excel After you've copied the URL go back to the new Microsoft Excel worksheet that you open before and paste the URL into the browser that you opened. If you don't see a browser go back to the beginning of this chapter and follow the steps to open a new Microsoft Excel worksheet along with importing data from the Internet. Paste the URL from your browser into the small browser in the Microsoft Excel spread sheet and OK. Step 9

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Once the Reuters page you saw in your browser has opened, at the bottom of the small browser in Microsoft Excel click on the button that says Import. Step 10

Microsoft Excel will then ask you where you want to import the data to. You can really important to anywhere on the spread sheet. In the example below I selected the cell G7. Once you have selected where you would like to import the information click on the OK button. You may have to wait a moment, but after a while you will see all the information on the Reuters website page on Dell Inc. imported into your spread sheet. Do not close this spread sheet. Step 11

Now go back to either one of the spread sheets

 Company analysis sheet - 4 years  Company analysis sheet - 5 years you opened before and try to import the information from the Reuters website, it should work without a problem.

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Chapter #6 - How to save organise and retrieve your research How it Started Before I started to use the tool that you will learn about shortly I used to save all the information I found on the company in a Microsoft Word document. As you can imagine it was a lot of work, first you had to cut out the article in the Internet and paste it into Microsoft Word and then the formatting would be completely awful taking a lot of time to make the document readable. A friend of mine then suggested a tool which completely changed the way I save and organise all the information I gather and on investment ideas. And if you do not store huge amounts of information, the tool is completely free. The tool is called Evernote and you can access it at the website www.Evernote.com All you have to do to get started is to register a free account. Step 1

Create an Evernote Account To do that go to https://evernote.com and click on Create Account in the top right corner of the web page.

A form will be shown which you have to complete. Make sure that you make a note of the e-mail address and password you used to register as you will need it later. Once you have filled in the form click on the button that says Register to finalise your registration. In order to verify your subscription Evernote will send you an e-mail. Click the confirmation link in the email to finalise your registration. Back to Index

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Step 2

Two ways to use Evernote Another great thing about Evernote is that it gives you two ways of using the program. 1. You can either just use the program in the Internet or 2. You can download Evernote software that you can install on your computer. The nice thing if you choose option two (to install the software on your computer) is that all the information you have saved using Evernote will be available to you even if you don’t have an Internet connection. This is also the reason why I suggest that you install the Evernote software on your computer.

Installing Evernote software On the Evernote home page (https://evernote.com) click on the button that says Get Evernote - It's Free.

Step 3

On the next page if you hold your mouse over the button that says Get Evernote for Mac or the hyperlink that says Get Evernote for Mobile, Tablet, and Other Devices a box will open giving you the option to download Evernote for numerous devices including:  Mac OS X  Windows (Windows 7)

desktop

 Windows 8  Safari, Chrome, Firefox (web browser add-ons) Step 4

Download and install the software relevant to your computer.

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Also install the browser add-on I would also suggest that you install the add-on for the browser you use to access the Internet.

Step 5

The reason for this is that it makes it so much easier to add articles to Evernote. For example I use Firefox and the add-on gives me a handy button at the top right of my browser that I just have to click if I want to add an article from the web to my Evernote database. Once you install the software as well as the browser add-on you are ready to start using Evernote.

Evernote software on your computer Start the Evernote software you've installed on your computer by double-clicking on the Evernote icon. You will then be asked to enter the username and password you used when you registered for your free Evernote account. Type in your username and password.

Step 6

Create notebook

Step 7

In the Evernote software on the top left you will see a heading that says notebooks. A notebook is simply a name under which you can save a lot of articles with a similar theme. To create a new notebook simply right click on the heading Notebooks, then click on Create Notebook.

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Step 8

A notebook is simply a name under which you can save a lot of articles with a similar theme. To create a new notebook simply right click on the heading Notebooks, then click on Create Notebook. I created a notebook called Company Info which I used to store all my investment research.

If you click on the Tools menu you will see there are quite a number of settings and preferences you can change. Step 9

Here is one setting I think you will find very helpful. Click on Tools and then Clipping Preferences. In the pop-up box select Specify clip destination and then from the drop down list just below it select the Notebook you created earlier to save all your research information in. I selected the notebook I created called Company Info. This now becomes the default Notebook Evernote will save articles in. It will save you from having, each time you want to save an article, to change the Notebook where the article will get stored. Back to Index

Step 10

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Saving your first article

To save your first article to Evernote go back to your Internet browser and click on or type in the following URL: http://www.eurosharelab.com/newslett er-archive/476-do-more-research-forlower-returns With your mouse select only the text you would like to save to your Evernote notebook.

Once you've selected all the text you would like to save click the button at the top of your browser that says Add to Evernote. Step 11 An Evernote window will appear that only contains the text of the article you have selected.

At the top of the window you will see all the Evernote menus as well as the heading of the article as well as a Notebook it will be saved to (Company Info is a notebook I selected). Step 12

In this window you can change the Notebook the article be saved to (use the drop down list) and you can add additional text in the top of the article. Back to Index

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Adding additional search terms I sometimes add additional search terms to the top of article to help me find it easier at a later stage. For examples if it is an article on the oil industry I add the names of the oil companies I am invested in or am thinking of buying (Total SA, ENI SPA for example) at the top of the article to make sure that when I type in the names of the companies to search for relevant articles this article will also be shown.

Once you have made all the changes to the article and am ready to save it all you have to do is TO close the pop-up window by clicking on the X on the top right of the window.

Searching the articles you have saved The most important thing when building an investment article database to be able to find relevant articles quickly and easily, something Evernote does very well. To search for articles the first thing you have to do is open the Evernote application. Then click on the Notebook you would write to search. I save all investment articles in the Company Info notebook and would thus select this notebook. Step 13

If you want to search the complete article database you have in Evernote select All Notes, the first heading under Notebooks. In the search box to the right simply type in the company name to find all related articles. If Evernote comes up with too many that don’t want try typing your search term in quotes (“Marathon oil”).

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You can find more Evernote search tips by clicking on the following URL: https://support.evernote.com/ics/support/help.asp

Step 14

As you type Evernote will show you all the articles containing your search term right below the search box. Step 15

Tagging your articles Evernote has got another powerful feature you can use to better categorise your articles. It is called tags. You can easily add a tag to an article by clicking on the subheading of every article that says Click to Add Tag… Step 16

A small text box will open when you can either type in a new tag or find an existing one by simply typing in the first two letters of the existing tag name.

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As the article in this example is about Dell Inc. I gave it a tag called Dell.

Step 17

If you have tagged all the articles related to Dell you can very easily find them by clicking on Tags in the second menu line and then selecting Dell. Step 18

Alternatively you can also open the Tags menu on the left hand sidebar of Evernote and click on Dell to find all the articles you have tagged.

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If you don't see all the tags you have created simply click on the small arrow to the left of the tags icon to open the drop down list.

Step 20

Evernote can do a lot more for you In this article I've covered the most important functions of Evernote to help you with your investments. But Evernote can do a lot more. To find out what other users you can put Evernote to go to this URL https://evernote.com/evernote/ Scroll down the page and look at the video about Evernote stories.

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Chapter #7 - Managing your portfolio - how to automatically import share prices into a spread sheet To help you get started as quickly and easily as possible I prepared two spread sheets to help you. Go to the following URL Spread sheet download page and download a file called: Portfolio Tracking Spread sheet (Important: You know that errors can always creep in with a spread sheet so please check all calculations before you start using the spread sheet.) This is how the spread sheet is structured. If you look at the bottom left of your screen after you have opened the spread sheet you will see the following sheets: 

Example 1



Example 2



Data



Info Step 1

Example 1 and Example 2 Example 1 and Example 2 are examples of sheet you can use to keep track of your portfolio. Example 2 has got a few added calculations compared to Example 1. The best would be for you to look at both sheet and see what example covers most of the indicators you would like to track.

Also remember that these are normal spread sheets and you can change adding or deleting content as you see fit. Data Sheet The Data sheet contains all the share price, currencies and indices data that are automatically imported from Yahoo Finance. Info Sheet

The info sheet contains information to make your use of the spread sheet as easy as possible.

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How to add a company in the spread sheet If you want to add a company to any of the two portfolio examples the first thing you have to do is to add the company to the Data sheet. I suggest you add companies alphabetically to ensure that you can easily find them. To do this the first thing you want to do is click on the Data sheet and to insert a line in the spread sheet where you would like to add the new company. Step 2

You can do this by right clicking on any number on the left of the spread sheet and then selecting Insert Line from the menu that appears. Step 3

The next thing you have to do is find the company code in Yahoo finance. To do this go to http://finance.yahoo.com and in the top right box that says Enter Symbol type in the name of the company. As soon as you start typing a drop down menu will open from which you can select the company you are looking for. In the example below I was looking for the German insurer Allianz SE. Step 4

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When you click on the company name a page will open showing you specific information about the company. The Yahoo finance company code is located just to the right of the company's name. In this case ALV.DE Step 5

Type this code into the spread sheet in the Yahoo Finance column. Step 6

In order for the spread sheet to automatically pull in all the information from Yahoo Finance you have to copy the formulas from one of the existing companies in the spread sheet. To do this simply select all the information to the right of the Yahoo Finance Code from the company above or below where you added the new company code and copy it into the empty line you added.

Step 7

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Once you've the copied the information you need to paste it next to the new company code.

Step 8

At first it will look as if the information for the new company you have added is identical to the company where you copied the formulas from. Don't worry about is this will change as soon as you update the spread sheet.

Two ways to update the spread sheet There are two ways to update your portfolio spread sheet: 1.

To update all values (this may take a while and you may not always want to do this) Ctrl Shift + R

2.

If you only want to update the new information you have added to the spread sheet (this takes less time) press Shift + F9

Once you have pressed the keys on your keyboard for either of the two alternatives it will look as if the spread sheet has stopped working or responding, don’t worry this is only for a short while as Excel is updating the values in the spread sheet. As soon as the updates are finished the spread sheet and Microsoft Excel will work normally. Once the information has updated you will not see the same information mentioned above but will see the correct information for the company you have added.

Congratulations you have now successfully added new companies information to the spread sheet.

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Step 9

How to add a company to your portfolio Step 10

Now that you have the updated information from Yahoo Finance available the next step is to add the company you have purchased to your portfolio spread sheet. To do this click on any the Example 1 or Example 2 spread sheet you have decided to use. In both sheets you will see the cells have all been coloured. Refer to the Info sheet (bottom left) which will tell you what each colour means. This is what the colours in the cells mean:

Example 1 spread sheet: Step 11

Example 1 spread sheet:

Step 12

Simply add a line to the spread sheet and look at the two example investments to enter the values and copy the formulas for the investment you are adding. Once you are happy that the investment you added if calculating and updating as it should you can delete the two examples.

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Chapter #8 - How to automatically get updated information on all the companies in your portfolio daily In this chapter I will show you exactly how to set up a tool that automatically searches the internet and sends you emails with current information of all the companies you would like to follow. The tool is called Google Alerts and it allows you to set up automatic searches and to have the search results sent to your email account. Another great thing is it is completely free. Tip: In order to get the best search results if you have investments in different countries (and can speak the language) make sure you create a Google account in that language. For example if you follow German companies and want to read news about them in German (there will be a lot more information on a company if you search in its home language) make sure you open a German Google account and save the search term in this account.

Set up a Google account For you to be able to use Google Alerts you have to open a Google account. If you have a Gmail email account you already have a Google account and can go to the heading Define your searches.

Opening a Google Account is very easy and can be done quickly by clicking the following URL www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount and filling the required information. If you do not want Google to record your internet activities make sure you un-check “Enable Web History”.

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Step 1

Be sure to make a note of the email address and password you selected as you will need it to log into Google Alerts in future.

Define your search The best way to create an alert is to first create a search in Google (keep on adjusting it) and, after you are happy with the result, cut and paste the search text into Google Alerts.

To learn how you can get the most out of searching the internet with Google take a look at the following two articles: http://www.googleguide.com/advanced_operators_reference_print.html http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/master-the-google-search-like-a-godsave-time/ Go to www.google.com and create search term that gives you the best results. Next you have to go to Google Alerts by clicking the following URL: www.google.com/alerts Log into your Google Account by entering the email and password you chose when you opened the account. Back to Index

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Once the page loads paste your search term into the text box next to Search query, select the Results type, How often, and How many from the drop down lists and click the button CREATE ALERT to save your alert. Step 2

I usually leave down menu unchanged.

the drop options

Congratulations you have created your first alert!

What it can be used for You can use Google Alerts to automate a search for anything you can think of. Your name in quotes may be a good idea so that you can see where in the internet your name appears. I have found that Google Alerts work best for information on small and midsized companies. Large well-known companies generate too much information (think of Apple) and the results are overwhelming and most of the time not very useful.

Your search does not have to be perfect Don’t worry that your search may not be perfect first time. The Alert email you receive has a link that lets you easily change the search text so that the information you receive becomes more and more relevant as you refine the search.

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About the author Tim du Toit is editor and founder of Eurosharelab. On his website he reveals what more than 20 years of equity investment have taught him – sometimes at considerable cost. He started investing in 1987 he made every investment mistake you can think of until he realised that investing was not a recent human activity and that there must be some good research and books about what has worked in investing. Not in the short term but over long periods of time in up and down markets. So for over the next 20 years he did exactly that. Reading and studying every article, research paper and book he could find to help him improve his investment performance. Something he still does. In between his investment activities Tim completed a Bachelor of Commerce (cum laude) and Honours degree in financial management from the University of Pretoria in South Africa. And an MBA degree in finance and strategic management at Indiana University in the USA in 1995 where he graduated in the top 10% of his class. Tim and his wife lives in Hamburg, Germany a city he says is the most beautiful (and unknown) in Germany. To discover how you can avoid costly mistakes and enjoy greater profits, sign up for his free newsletter “Investing that makes sense” at www.eurosharelab.com

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The End

If you have any suggestions or questions please feel free to send me an e-mail at [email protected]

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