100 portfolio questions, answered on a real portfolio
What each question measures, the figure it gives on a public Snowball Analytics portfolio, and where to get the same answer for your own holdings: from Ask Snowball Analytics or the analytics screens.
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ChatGPT cannot see your portfolio by default
You can paste a holdings list into any chatbot and get a confident answer. The problem is what a pasted list leaves out: purchase dates, cost basis, dividends already received, cash, fund constituents, today’s prices. Without those, the arithmetic is guessed.
Pasting a list into a general chatbot
- No current prices, so values are estimated or out of date
- No transaction history, so no cost basis and no real return
- No dividend records, so income is inferred from a yield figure
- Cannot look through an ETF to its holdings
- Numbers are produced by a language model, which is where confident errors come from
- Your full position list sits in a general‑purpose service
Ask Snowball Analytics
- Prices across 70+ exchanges, synced from 1,000+ brokers
- Full transaction history, so real cost basis and real return
- Actual dividends received, plus a forward calendar month by month
- Fund X‑Ray resolves what you really own inside each ETF
- Figures come from your data and Snowball Analytics calculations; the model explains them
- Read‑only access; what is sent is anonymized, and Snowball Analytics does not use it to train models
Three steps, then just ask
The context stays current without a new routine. With a broker connected, every answer reflects today’s holdings. With an import, it reflects the statement you last loaded.
Connect or import
Import a broker statement or spreadsheet on any plan. On paid plans and during the 14‑day trial, automatic sync with 1,000+ brokers keeps holdings, transactions and cash current. Both can live in the same portfolio.
Fidelity
Charles Schwab
Vanguard
Interactive Brokers
E*TRADE
M1 Finance
Ask in plain language
Type the question the way you would say it, in the language you think in. Follow‑ups keep context, so “and what about from August?” works without restating anything.
Get a computed answer
Every figure traces back to your holdings and transactions. Where an assumption is needed, such as a return rate or a dividend growth rate, it is shown and you can change it.
Every number below comes from a portfolio you can open
The answers on this page are worked against three public Snowball Analytics portfolios. Open any of them and check the figures yourself, including the unflattering ones.
Demo portfolio
- Value
- $188,564.83
- IRR
- 11.73%
- Yield
- 2.12%
- Annual income
- $3,584.53
- Beta
- 0.788
Ryne’s Portfolio
- Value
- $143,334.67
- IRR
- 13.09%
- Yield
- 3.29%
- Annual income
- $4,718.05
Utbyttereisen
- Value
- NOK 7.71m
- IRR
- 41.54%
- Yield
- 8.21%
- Annual income
- NOK 498k
100 portfolio analysis questions investors ask, with answers
Ten topics, ten questions each. Every entry gives a short answer to the question itself, then shows the same measure worked against a live portfolio you can open and verify.
Rate & review my portfolio
What a portfolio rating can measure, what it cannot, and why a single score hides more than it shows.
Rate my portfolio: what does that actually measure?
A useful rating is a set of measurements: how concentrated the portfolio is, where the income comes from, how far it has drifted from your targets, how volatile it is against the market, and how it has done against a benchmark. Each one is a number you can check.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: top three holdings 51.63% of value, 57.5% of passive income from one fund, beta 0.788, Sharpe 0.618, lifetime TWR 97.84% against SPY's 154.19%.
Where: Ask for the holdings, income, beta and benchmark figures · Analytics → Metrics for Sharpe and Sortino.
Describe the strengths and weaknesses of my portfolio in terms of risk and return
Strength and weakness only mean something against an objective, so put yours in the question: a target value, an income, or a date. The answer can then say which measured properties help that objective and which work against it.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: total profit +$93,252.70 (97.8%) and an IRR of 11.73%, with beta 0.788, so it moves less than the market. Risk-adjusted return is modest: Sharpe 0.618 and Sortino 0.925, both flagged "requires attention" on the Metrics tab.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Metrics.
How is my portfolio doing?
The question has four readings: today, over a period, since you started, and against an index. They can disagree, so a good answer gives all four.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: total profit +$93,252.70 (97.8%) since inception, IRR 11.73%, and $24,557.07 (13.02%) behind the S&P 500 over the last year.
Where: Ask: "How is my portfolio doing today, this year and against the S&P 500?" · Dashboard.
What is the weakest area of my portfolio?
Treat "weakest" as the largest measurable gap: the biggest single weight, the largest share of income from one payer, the widest drift from a target, the weakest risk-adjusted return. Which gap matters is your call.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: one fund, JEPI, pays 57.5% of passive income from 15% of the value, and stocks sit at 44.37% against a 30% target.
Where: Ask for income and holding weights · Categories for target versus actual.
Does my portfolio need rebalancing?
It does when the weights have moved far from the targets you set. Targets for categories or holdings live on the Categories screen, which shows actual next to target. To ask about drift in Ask, state your targets in the question.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: against 45/30/15/10 targets for funds, stocks, cash and commodities, the gaps add up to 31.75 points: about 15.9% of the value, near $29,940, would have to move to restore the targets.
Where: Categories · Tools → Portfolio rebalancing.
Roast my portfolio
Ask treats a playful question about your portfolio as a portfolio question and answers it with numbers: concentration, income dependence, drift, benchmark gap.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: 51.63% in three holdings, 57.5% of passive income from one fund, cash at 10.3% against a 15% target, lifetime TWR 97.84% against SPY's 154.19%.
Where: Ask.
How does my portfolio compare to other investors' portfolios?
Public portfolios in Snowball Analytics can be opened and read holding by holding, so you can put your own figures next to a named portfolio. Ask works on your own portfolio, so do the side-by-side yourself.
Public portfolios, 24 Sep 2026: Demo portfolio 2.12% passive income and IRR 11.73%; Ryne's Portfolio 3.29% and 13.09%; Utbyttereisen 8.21% and 41.54%.
Where: Community → Public portfolios · Ask for your own figures.
What questions should I ask about my own portfolio?
The ones a spreadsheet cannot answer in one step: where the income comes from, how concentrated you are once funds are looked through, how far you have drifted from your targets, and what a goal needs from you each month.
This page: the ten topics below follow that order, ten questions each.
Where: Ask · the analytics screens named in each answer.
Is my portfolio good for a beginner?
Whether a portfolio suits someone depends on circumstances no tool can see, so Snowball Analytics does not label it. It can describe complexity: how many holdings, how many currencies, how much sits in single stocks and how much in funds.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: 10 holdings (seven single stocks, two funds and gold) plus cash in two currencies (USD 5.95%, EUR 4.36% of value).
Where: Ask · Analytics → Diversification.
Would removing one holding improve my portfolio?
"Improve" depends on your objective. What can be measured is what the holding contributes today: its weight, its share of income, its return. Ask reports those; it does not model the portfolio without the holding.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: without JEPI, passive income would drop from $3,584.53 to $1,522.01 a year, and VOO would become the largest weight at about 22.07%.
Where: Ask for the holding's weight, income and return · Portfolio Lab to backtest an allocation without it.
Dividends & passive income
Forward income, yield on cost, the payment calendar, and where the cash actually comes from.
How much dividend income will I receive in the next 12 months?
Snowball Analytics shows two forward figures. Passive income is the annual run-rate of regular dividends at today's holdings, after your tax settings. Future payments add up the individual payouts expected over the next 12 months, month by month.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: passive income $3,584.53 a year; future payments $3,612.47 over the next 12 months, $301.04 a month on average.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Dividends · Dividend calendar.
What is my portfolio's dividend yield?
There are three yields, and they answer different questions. Yield divides forward income by today's value. Yield before tax ignores withholding. Yield on cost divides the same income by what you paid, so it rises as prices rise.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: 2.12% yield, 2.35% before tax, 3.5% on cost.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Dividends.
Which holdings pay most of my dividends?
Income concentration and capital concentration are different measures. A high-yield holding can be a small part of the value and most of the cash.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: JEPI 57.5% of passive income ($2,062.52), Volkswagen 15.1% ($539.55), Home Depot 9.4%, VOO 9.2%, Starbucks 3.1%, Costco 3%, Apple 2.7%. JEPI is 15% of the value and pays 3.8 times that share of the income.
Where: Ask: "Which holdings pay most of my dividends?" · Analytics → Dividends.
What dividends will I get each month?
Monthly income is rarely level. The forward calendar shows which months carry the payouts, quarterly clusters from US payers and single large payments included.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: Sep $358, Oct $162, Nov $235, Dec $331, Jan $192, Feb $234, Mar $327, Apr $189, May $280, Jun $887, Jul $174, Aug $244. June is about five times July.
Where: Ask: "Forecast my dividends by month" · Dividend calendar.
How much did I actually receive in dividends over the last 12 months?
Received income comes from your transaction history: real payouts on real dates, so it reconciles with a broker statement. It needs a portfolio with transaction history, including dividends.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: $3,974.38 received over the trailing 12 months, from $194 in the lightest month to $987 in the heaviest.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Dividends.
When will my dividend income reach $1,000 a month?
The date depends on four inputs: today's income, new money, dividend growth, and whether you reinvest. Put them in the question; the answer is only as good as those assumptions.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: from $301.04 a month, reinvesting at the current 2.12% yield with 6% annual dividend growth and no new money, income passes $1,000 a month in about 15 years.
Where: Ask · Goal, with an annual income target.
How much do I need to invest to add $10 a month in passive income?
Divide the income you want by the yield you buy at today. Use the current yield: yield on cost describes a price you can no longer pay.
Arithmetic, current yields on 25 Sep 2026: $120 a year takes about $1,480 at JEPI's 8.11%, $3,762 at Home Depot's 3.19%, $11,538 at VOO's 1.04%, $37,500 at Apple's 0.32%. Yield calculations, not suggestions.
Where: Ask for a holding's current yield · Dividend calculators.
Is my dividend income growing?
Income grows in two ways: payers raise their dividends, and you buy more shares. The five-year dividend growth of each holding shows the first.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: five-year dividend growth Costco 13.21%, VOO 7.37%, Home Depot 7.15%, Starbucks 6.15%, Volkswagen 5.53%, S&P Global 5.32%, Apple 4.35%, JEPI 2.14%. The largest income source grows slowest.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Dividends · My holdings table.
What is yield on cost and why is mine higher than my yield?
Yield on cost measures today's income against the price you paid. It rises whenever a holding's price or payout rises, so it flatters a portfolio held for a long time. It is not extra income.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: 2.12% yield against 3.5% on cost. Apple pays 0.29% at today's price and 0.96% on its $101.56 average cost; Costco 0.58% and 1.63%.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Dividends.
How sustainable is my dividend income?
Two things to look at: how much of the income depends on one payer, and how financially sound each payer is. Snowball Analytics reports the dependency and rates each payer; it does not forecast cuts.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: JEPI pays 57.5% of passive income and Volkswagen 15.1%, so two payers carry 72.6%.
Where: Ask for income by holding · Analytics → Dividends → Dividend rating (Starter plan and above).
Projections & future value
How a projection is built, which assumption drives the result, and why the range matters more than the number.
How much will my portfolio be worth in 10 years?
A forecast is a range. Ask runs a Monte Carlo forecast of the portfolio value and returns percentiles from pessimistic to optimistic, with the expected return and volatility it assumed. You can override either.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: $188,564.83 compounding monthly at a flat 5%, 7% or 9% a year with no new money ends near $310,570, $378,950 or $462,240 after 10 years. Read the spread, not any one of them.
Where: Ask: "Forecast my portfolio value in 10 years" · Goal.
Break my projection into bearish, neutral and bullish scenarios
The Monte Carlo forecast already gives that shape: a low percentile, the median and a high percentile of the final value. State a return if you want scenarios on your own assumption.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: at flat 5%, 7% and 9% the ten-year values sit about $139,000 apart; most of that gap opens in the second half.
Where: Ask · Goal.
What happens to my projection if I add $500 a month?
New money drives the early years and compounding the later ones. Give the contribution in the question and the forecast includes it.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures, 7% a year for 10 years: about $378,950 with no contributions and $465,490 with $500 a month. Of the $86,540 difference, $60,000 is money paid in and about $26,540 is growth on it.
Where: Ask · Goal.
How long until my portfolio doubles?
Doubling time depends on the rate, not on the starting amount. Contributions shorten it.
Arithmetic: about 14.2 years at 5%, 10.2 years at 7%, 8.0 years at 9%. At the Demo portfolio's 11.73% IRR it would be about 6.2 years, if that rate held.
Where: Ask · Goal.
Run a Monte Carlo analysis on my portfolio
Ask runs one. The forecast simulates the portfolio value many times and returns percentiles of the outcome and the probability of reaching a target you name. It works on a portfolio-level return and volatility, estimated from your holdings unless you set them.
On any portfolio: the useful output is the spread between the pessimistic and optimistic percentiles and the probability for your target, with the assumptions shown next to them.
Where: Ask: "Run a Monte Carlo forecast to $500,000 in 10 years" · Goal.
What will my portfolio be worth if I keep adding €2,000 a month for 20 years?
Put the contribution, the horizon and the currency in the question. The answer separates what you paid in from what the market added.
Arithmetic: €2,000 a month for 20 years is €480,000 paid in. At 7% a year it grows to about €1.04m, so 46% of the end value is your deposits. At 5% it reaches about €822,000 and deposits are 58% of it.
Where: Ask · Goal.
Does my projection account for dividends and reinvestment?
The forecast works from one expected annual return for the whole portfolio. Say whether the rate you give is price-only or total return with dividends reinvested, because the paths differ.
On any portfolio: a projection at a price-only rate understates a dividend portfolio that reinvests; one at a total-return rate overstates it if the dividends are spent.
Where: Ask · Goal.
How much should I invest monthly to reach $100,000?
Run the projection backwards: fix the target and the date, and solve for the contribution. Ask solves it and gives the monthly amount for a probability of reaching the target, 85% by default.
Arithmetic, from zero over 10 years at a flat rate: about $644 a month at 5%, $578 at 7%, $517 at 9%.
Where: Ask: "How much do I need to add each month to reach $100,000 in 10 years?" · Goal.
What would my portfolio be worth in 30 years?
Over 30 years the assumption matters more than the starting balance, so ask for the range and the assumptions behind it.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures, no contributions: about $815,000 at 5%, $1.44m at 7% and $2.50m at 9%. The spread is almost nine times today's value.
Where: Ask · Goal.
How likely am I to reach my target?
A probability is a property of the model and its assumptions. Ask's forecast returns the probability of reaching the value you name, with the return and volatility it assumed, so you can see what drives it.
On any portfolio: raise the contribution or lengthen the horizon in the question and the probability moves; that sensitivity is the useful part.
Where: Ask: "What is the probability of reaching $500,000 in 10 years?" · Goal.
Goals, FIRE & “am I on track?”
Turning a target and a date into a required rate, a required contribution, and a crossover month.
Am I on track for my goal?
"On track" needs a goal: a value, an income, or a date. Put it in the question and compare the rate the goal needs with the rate the portfolio has delivered.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: reaching $1,000,000 from $188,564.83 in 15 years with no new money needs about 11.76% a year. The portfolio's IRR since inception is 11.73%, so the goal sits right at its track record.
Where: Ask · Goal.
When will my passive income cover my expenses?
Give a monthly expense figure, then compare it with your income and how fast that income grows.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: $2,000 a month is 6.6 times the $301.04 of monthly future payments. Reinvesting at 2.12% with 6% dividend growth and no new money, income gets there in about 24 years.
Where: Ask · Goal, with an annual income target.
How much capital do I need to retire on $5,000 a month?
Required capital is the annual amount divided by the withdrawal or yield rate you assume, and the rate dominates the answer.
Arithmetic: $60,000 a year needs $1.5m at 4%, $1.2m at 5%, about $857,000 at 7% and $750,000 at 8%. A higher assumed rate shrinks the target and raises the risk that the assumption fails.
Where: Ask · Goal.
What return do I need to hit my target by a specific year?
Solve for the compound rate the goal implies, then put it next to what the portfolio has delivered.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: $4,000,000 by 2039 from $188,564.83, with no new money, needs about 26.5% a year. The portfolio's IRR to date is 11.73%.
Where: Ask · Goal.
How would shifting part of my portfolio toward income affect my timeline?
Shifting toward income trades growth later for cash now. Ask does not model a changed allocation; test the new mix in Portfolio Lab and compare its history with your current one.
On any portfolio: income goes up by the extra yield on the amount moved; whether total return changes depends on what the income holdings do to price.
Where: Portfolio Lab (backtests; 30+ years of history from the Investor plan) · Ask for today's income and yield.
Am I saving enough each month?
"Enough" is defined by a goal and a date. Ask solves for the monthly contribution that reaches the goal with a stated probability.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: reaching $500,000 in 10 years from $188,564.83 at a flat rate needs about $1,220 a month at 5%, $699 at 7% and $195 at 9%.
Where: Ask: "How much should I add monthly to reach $500,000 in 10 years?" · Goal.
What is my FIRE number and how close am I?
A FIRE number is annual spending divided by a withdrawal rate. The rate is an assumption, not a law.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: $40,000 a year at 4% is $1,000,000; the Demo portfolio's $188,564.83 is 18.9% of it.
Where: Ask · Goal, with a value target.
Can I retire in three years on this portfolio?
That is a personal decision, so the answer is arithmetic: projected value at your date, and what it supports at a few withdrawal rates.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: at 7% a year it would be about $231,000 in three years. A 4% withdrawal from that is about $770 a month before tax; 5% is about $963.
Where: Ask · Goal.
How does a withdrawal change my projection?
Withdrawals work against compounding, and the size matters more than anything else. Ask forecasts with a monthly withdrawal, or solves for the withdrawal the portfolio can sustain.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: withdrawing $45,000 a year empties it in about six years at 7% or 9%. At $12,000 a year it still grows at 7%.
Where: Ask: "What monthly withdrawal can this portfolio sustain for 30 years?" · Goal.
What happens to my goal if I stop contributing for a year?
A pause costs more than the missed deposits, because they also miss their compounding. Run the plan with and without the pause and compare the contribution each one needs.
On any portfolio: ask for the monthly contribution the goal needs from today, then from a year later with the same target date; the difference is the price of the pause.
Where: Ask · Goal.
Performance & benchmarks
Time-weighted, money-weighted, and the benchmark gap: three answers to one question about returns.
How is my portfolio performing versus the S&P 500?
A fair comparison uses the same measure on both sides. The Metrics tab compares your time-weighted return with SPY over the portfolio's lifetime; Ask compares a period's return with the S&P 500.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: lifetime TWR 97.84% against SPY's 154.19%, 56.35 points behind. Over the last year it is $24,557.07 (13.02%) behind the S&P 500.
Where: Ask: "How did my portfolio do against the S&P 500 this year?" · Analytics → Metrics, Growth.
What is the difference between time-weighted and money-weighted return?
Time-weighted return (TWR) measures the holdings and ignores when you added money. Money-weighted return, the IRR, measures what your money earned, timing included.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: IRR 11.73% a year; TWR 97.84% cumulative since inception.
Where: Ask for IRR · Analytics → Metrics for TWR.
Why is my portfolio underperforming the index?
Break the gap into its sources: which holdings lagged, how much sat in cash, how much in assets that do not track the index. Ask returns each holding's return for the period, which is where the answer starts.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: 10.3% in cash and 11.45% in gold, neither of which tracks equities, while the S&P 500 led by 13.02% over the last year.
Where: Ask: "Which holdings drove my return this year?" · Analytics → Growth.
Which of my holdings performed best and worst this year?
Rank holdings two ways: by percentage and by money. A big percentage on a small holding moves almost nothing.
Demo portfolio since purchase, 24 Sep 2026: Apple +237.1%, Costco +191.6%, VOO +147.2% at the top; S&P Global −20.14% at the bottom. In dollars Apple (+$24,081.45) and VOO (+$22,086.71) lead.
Where: Ask: "Rank my holdings by return this year" · My holdings table.
How did my portfolio do this year, and which trades made the difference?
Split the year into price moves on holdings you kept, gains realised on what you sold, and income received. Ask pulls the period's return by holding and the transactions behind it.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: $3,974.38 of dividends arrived over the last 12 months.
Where: Ask: "What did I buy and sell this year, and how did each holding do?" · Analytics → Growth.
Can I compare my portfolio to a different benchmark?
Yes. The Growth screen compares against index funds on every plan and against any asset from the Investor plan. In Ask, a period's return can be compared with the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, FTSE 100 or TSX.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: 11.45% in gold and 10.3% in cash; a pure equity index is a demanding yardstick for that mix.
Where: Analytics → Growth · Ask for the four indexes.
How far is my portfolio off its all-time high?
Read it from the portfolio value history, which needs a portfolio with transaction history. Ask does not report a drawdown figure; the Growth screen draws the history.
On any portfolio: set the Growth chart to "all" and compare today's value with the peak.
Where: Analytics → Growth.
How much of my return came from dividends rather than price?
Total return splits into income and price change. Dividends received and total return both come back from Ask; the difference is price and realised gains.
Public portfolios, 24 Sep 2026: passive income runs at 2.12% on the Demo portfolio, 3.29% on Ryne's Portfolio and 8.21% on Utbyttereisen. Income makes up a very different share of each one's return.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Growth, performance by source.
What is my portfolio's IRR?
IRR is the annual rate that balances all your cash flows against today's value — the closest thing to "what my money earned". It needs a portfolio with transaction history.
Public portfolios, 24 Sep 2026: Demo portfolio 11.73%, Ryne's Portfolio 13.09%, Utbyttereisen 41.54%.
Where: Ask · Dashboard.
Why does my broker show a different return than Snowball Analytics?
Usually a definition. Brokers often show simple return on current holdings, may leave out dividends already paid out, and rarely time-weight. Line the definitions up and the gap explains itself.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: total profit 97.8%, lifetime TWR 97.84%, IRR 11.73% a year. All three are correct; they measure different things.
Where: Ask · Dashboard · Analytics → Metrics.
Risk & volatility
Beta, Sharpe, Sortino and drawdown, and what each one does and does not tell you about risk.
How risky is my portfolio?
Risk is several measures that can disagree: volatility against the market, return per unit of risk, downside-only risk, and concentration.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: beta 0.788, Sharpe 0.618, Sortino 0.925, and 51.63% of the value in three holdings. It moves less than the market and is paid modestly for its risk.
Where: Ask for beta and concentration · Analytics → Metrics for Sharpe and Sortino.
What is my portfolio's beta?
Beta compares your portfolio's past movements with a broad index. Below 1 means it has moved less than the market. It says nothing about company-specific risk, and custom assets are left out of it.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: beta 0.788, pulled down by 10.3% in cash and 11.45% in gold.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Metrics.
What is a good Sharpe ratio for a portfolio?
Sharpe is return per unit of total volatility. Snowball Analytics measures it against SPY with five-year Treasuries as the risk-free rate, so compare portfolios over the same window.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: Sharpe 0.618, flagged "requires attention" against SPY on the Metrics tab.
Where: Analytics → Metrics.
What is the Sortino ratio and why is it different from Sharpe?
Sortino counts only downside volatility, since nobody needs protection from gains. A portfolio with sharp rises and mild falls scores better on Sortino than on Sharpe. The Metrics tab treats a Sortino over two as good.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: Sortino 0.925 against Sharpe 0.618.
Where: Analytics → Metrics.
Which holding adds the most risk for the least return?
Put each holding's weight, return and beta side by side. Ask returns all three per holding; weighing them is your call.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: S&P Global is down 20.14% but only 0.11% of the value; Volkswagen is 4.33% of the value and sits $6,449.50 below its cost basis.
Where: Ask: "Show my holdings with weight, return and beta".
What happens to my portfolio in a market crash?
Ask does not run stress tests. Beta gives a rough guide, because it describes how the portfolio has moved with the market before.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: with beta 0.788, a 30% index fall maps to roughly a 23.6% fall if past co-movement held. Cash (10.3%) and gold (11.45%) move on their own terms.
Where: Ask for beta · Portfolio Lab to see how an allocation behaved through past falls.
How does rebalancing change my portfolio's risk?
Drift adds risk quietly: the holdings that grew fastest take a bigger share. Rebalancing moves the mix back to the one you chose, and with it the risk you signed up for. Ask reports today's volatility and beta; Portfolio Lab backtests the target mix against the current one.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: stocks are 44.37% of the value against a 30% target and cash 10.3% against 15%; beta today is 0.788.
Where: Ask · Categories · Portfolio Lab.
Is my portfolio more volatile than the market?
Beta answers it: above 1, more volatile than the index; below 1, less. Ask gives the portfolio's beta and each holding's.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: beta 0.788, so less volatile than the market. Utbyttereisen, a high-yield portfolio reported in NOK, has a very different profile.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Metrics.
What is my portfolio's weighted P/E?
Weighted P/E averages each stock's price-to-earnings ratio by its weight: one valuation figure for the whole book. It describes what you own; it does not predict what happens next.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: 34x, on the Metrics tab's 0x–70x scale.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Metrics.
Can my portfolio go to zero?
A portfolio of listed stocks and funds goes to zero only if everything in it fails. Look at how much sits in single companies and how much in pooled funds.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: two broad funds hold 33.77% of the value, gold 11.45% and cash 10.3%. The largest single company is Apple at 17.87%.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Diversification.
Concentration, diversification & overlap
Position, sector, currency and look-through fund exposure, measured at four levels that rarely agree.
Where am I most concentrated right now?
Concentration shows at four levels: single holding, sector, country and currency. A portfolio can look spread out by count and still be concentrated once funds are looked through.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: VOO 18.76%, Apple 17.87%, JEPI 15.00%, gold 11.45%, Costco 9.60%. The top three are 51.63% of the value and the top five 72.68%.
Where: Ask: "Where am I most concentrated?" · Analytics → Diversification.
Should I rebalance when one holding gets too big?
There is no universal threshold. Rules of thumb for a single holding sit between 5% and 10%; the limit that counts is the one in your own plan. Set it as a target on the Categories screen, and the rebalancing tool can balance by holding as well as by category.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: against a 10% limit, VOO, Apple, JEPI and gold all exceed it, together 63.08% of the value. Against 20%, none does.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Diversification · Tools → Portfolio rebalancing (Balance of assets).
Do any of my holdings overlap?
Overlap is invisible until funds are looked through. Two ETFs with different names can hold the same companies, and a stock you own directly can also be a fund's largest holding.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: Apple is held directly at 17.87% and again inside VOO, an S&P 500 fund. X-Ray Funds combines the two into one exposure.
Where: Ask: "Show my holdings with funds looked through" · Analytics → Diversification → X-Ray Funds.
How much of my portfolio is really in one company after looking through my ETFs?
Look-through exposure adds your direct holding to your share of each fund's position in the same company. It is usually higher than the holdings list suggests.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: Apple is 17.87% directly, plus its share of VOO, which is another 18.76% of the portfolio. X-Ray Funds adds the two together.
Where: Ask with fund look-through · Analytics → Diversification → X-Ray Funds.
How many holdings should I have?
There is no right number, and funds change the arithmetic completely: one index fund can hold hundreds of companies. What the count tells you is how concentrated you are and how much there is to follow.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: 10 holdings, with 51.63% of the value in the top three.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Diversification.
Am I diversified enough?
"Enough" depends on your plan. What can be measured is the spread across holdings, sectors, asset classes, currencies, regions and countries.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: 10 holdings across stocks, two funds, gold and cash; 76.1% of the value counts as stocks in the asset-class view; currencies USD and EUR.
Where: Ask: "How is my portfolio split by sector, region and currency?" · Analytics → Diversification.
What sectors is my portfolio missing?
List your sector weights, then look through your funds: a sector with no direct holding can still arrive through an index fund. Which gaps matter depends on your strategy.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: its seven single stocks are technology, communication, consumer and financial names; the other sectors reach it only through VOO.
Where: Ask: "Break my portfolio down by sector, funds looked through" · Analytics → Diversification → Sectors.
How concentrated is my dividend income?
Income concentration is its own measure. The question is how many payers would have to cut before the income plan breaks.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: one fund pays 57.5% of passive income from 15% of the value; two payers carry 72.6%.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Dividends → passive income diversification.
What percentage of my portfolio is in REITs, BDCs or a specific group?
Ask groups holdings by asset type (REITs included), sector, country, region or currency and returns each group's share. Your own custom groups live in Categories.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: its categories are Funds, Stocks, Cash, Commodities and Financials, with targets of 45%, 30%, 15% and 10% on the first four.
Where: Ask for standard groupings · Categories for your own.
How much currency risk am I carrying?
Currency exposure comes from where a holding is listed, where the company earns and what you report in. Ask splits holdings by currency and shows every value in your reporting currency.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: reported in USD, with EUR cash at 4.36% of the value and a euro-listed stock, Volkswagen, at 4.33%.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Diversification → Currencies.
Allocation, rebalancing & what-if
Drift from target, the cost of closing it, and the arithmetic behind a hypothetical trade.
How far has my portfolio drifted from my target allocation?
Drift is the gap between the weights you set and the weights markets produced. Targets live on the Categories screen, which shows actual next to target; Ask does not read your targets.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: Funds 33.77% against 45%, Stocks 44.37% against 30%, Cash 10.3% against 15%, Commodities 11.45% against 10%.
Where: Categories.
What would rebalancing back to my targets look like?
The Rebalancing screen calculates the buys and sells that restore your targets: from new money only, or with sales. Free covers purchases; the full tool starts on Starter.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: back to 45/30/15/10 means about $21,180 more in funds and $8,850 more in cash, with stocks down about $27,090 and commodities about $2,740.
Where: Rebalancing.
I have $1,300 to invest: what does each option do to my portfolio?
Ask does not model a trade before you make it. The arithmetic for income is simple, and the Rebalancing screen shows how a top-up would be split by your targets.
Arithmetic, current yields on 25 Sep 2026: $1,300 adds about $105 a year of income at JEPI's 8.11%, $41 at Home Depot's 3.19%, $14 at VOO's 1.04%, $4 at Apple's 0.32%.
Where: Rebalancing (top-up amount) · Ask for current yields.
What if I sell one holding and buy another: how does that change things?
Ask cannot rebuild the portfolio around a hypothetical trade. What it can give you is today's numbers for both sides: weight, income, return and cost basis of the holding you would sell, and the profile of the one you would buy.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: S&P Global is 0.11% of the value and $54.54 below its cost basis, too small to move any portfolio measure.
Where: Ask for both holdings · Portfolio Lab to backtest the changed allocation.
Should I dollar-cost average or invest a lump sum?
That depends on things outside the data: timing, temperament, tax. The arithmetic of one assumption is easy to show.
Arithmetic: $12,000 at a steady 7% a year earns about $840 in year one as a lump sum, and about $380 when fed in at $1,000 a month: a $460 gap under that single assumption.
Where: Ask can walk through the arithmetic · Portfolio Lab for history.
How should I rebalance my portfolio?
Start from targets, then choose how to close the gap. Tools → Portfolio rebalancing works from the targets on the Categories screen: add a deposit and it picks purchases, allow sales to trim what is overweight, or run a withdrawal. It can balance by category or by holding and use fractional shares. Ask explains the drift and the arithmetic; the targets are yours to set.
Arithmetic, current yields on 25 Sep 2026: rebalancing also moves income. Shifting $10,000 from Apple (0.32%) to JEPI (8.11%) adds about $779 a year; the reverse takes the same amount away.
Where: Tools → Portfolio rebalancing · Categories.
What would rebalancing to 60/40 or another split look like?
Build the alternative in Portfolio Lab — from scratch or as a copy of your portfolio — and backtest it against the same period. Ask does not model an alternative allocation.
On any portfolio: compare the backtested return, drawdowns and income of the two versions over the same window.
Where: Portfolio Lab (30+ years of history from the Investor plan).
How do I reduce the number of holdings without changing my exposure?
Start from overlap: a fund that already holds your single stocks can often replace some of them. X-Ray Funds shows which of your companies sit inside your funds.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: VOO tracks the S&P 500, which includes Apple, Costco, Home Depot, Netflix, Starbucks and S&P Global, six of its seven single stocks.
Where: Analytics → Diversification → X-Ray Funds · Ask with fund look-through.
Can I rebalance without selling anything?
Yes, by sending new money to what is underweight. Enter a deposit amount in Tools → Portfolio rebalancing and leave sales off: it lists purchases only. Closing a large gap this way can take more money than you expect.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: stocks are about $83,670 of $188,564.83. Bringing them down to 30% by buying other assets alone needs the portfolio to reach about $278,890, an extra $90,320.
Where: Tools → Portfolio rebalancing (Deposit / Rebalance) · Categories.
Can I model a phased plan with specific dates and amounts?
Snowball Analytics models a regular monthly contribution or withdrawal in the Goal forecast and in Ask. A schedule of different amounts on specific dates is not modelled; use the average monthly amount as the input.
On any portfolio: ask for the forecast with your average monthly contribution, then rerun it with the high and low ends of your plan.
Where: Ask · Goal.
Taxes, fees, currency & costs
Withholding, cost basis, expense ratios and currency split: the costs that never appear on a statement.
How much dividend tax am I paying?
Snowball Analytics applies the dividend tax rate you set for the portfolio, and shows income before and after it. It does not work out what you owe or apply your country's rules.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: yield 2.35% before tax and 2.12% after; on the $169,133.46 held outside cash that gap is about $390 a year.
Where: Ask: "How much dividend tax have I paid?" · Analytics → Dividends · Manage portfolios → portfolio settings → Tax.
What is my cost basis and unrealised gain?
Cost basis is built from your transactions. Unrealised gain is today's value minus that basis, per holding and in total.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: Apple $10,156.50 against $33,702.00 today; Volkswagen $14,605.42 against $8,155.92.
Where: Ask · My holdings table.
What are my fund fees costing me?
Expense ratios come out of fund prices, so they never appear as a charge. Multiply each fund's ratio by what you hold to see the annual cost in money.
Arithmetic, Demo portfolio figures: JEPI's 0.35% on $28,290 is about $99 a year; VOO's 0.03% on $35,380 is about $11.
Where: Ask: "What is the expense ratio of each of my funds?"
How much cash am I holding, and in which currencies?
Cash balances are part of the portfolio. Ask reports the total and the split by currency, in your reporting currency.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: $19,431.37 in cash: USD 5.95% and EUR 4.36% of the value.
Where: Ask · Analytics → Diversification.
Which of my holdings have unrealised losses?
Ask lists holdings below their cost basis. Total profit can still be positive once dividends are counted, so look at both.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: Volkswagen is $6,449.50 below cost, yet +$810.01 in total profit with dividends; S&P Global is $54.54 below cost.
Where: Ask: "Which holdings are below cost?" · My holdings table.
Can Ask tell me the tax consequences of selling?
It can show the gain or loss a sale would realise and the cost basis behind it. It does not calculate tax, apply your country's rules or advise on timing; Snowball Analytics keeps no tax lots.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: selling all of Apple would realise about $23,545.50 over its $10,156.50 cost basis. What that means for tax depends on you.
Where: Ask · a qualified tax professional for the rest.
How do I account for holdings in a tax-advantaged account?
Keep the account as its own portfolio with its own withholding rate, then combine portfolios in a composite for the full picture. Ask answers for whichever portfolio you select.
On any portfolio: a withholding-free account and a taxable one give different net yields on the same holding; separate portfolios keep that visible.
Where: Manage portfolios → portfolio settings → Tax · composite portfolio · Ask.
What fees have I paid in total?
Commissions recorded with your trades add up to a total Ask can report. They need a portfolio with transaction history, and they are only as complete as your broker's export.
On any portfolio: ask for commissions paid, then compare them with the amount you have invested.
Where: Ask: "How much have I paid in commissions?"
Does Ask handle multiple currencies in one portfolio?
Yes. Holdings keep their own currency, you choose a reporting currency, and every total — value, income, return — is shown in it.
Public portfolios, 24 Sep 2026: the Demo portfolio reports in USD with EUR exposure; Utbyttereisen reports in NOK: NOK 7,711,652.82 with NOK 498,144.20 of passive income.
Where: Ask · portfolio currency switch.
Why does my portfolio value differ from my broker's?
Usual causes: the pricing time, whether cash is included, the currency each holding is valued in, pending trades, and a sync that has not run yet. Each can be checked against your data.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: its $188,564.83 includes $19,431.37 of cash in two currencies; a broker view without cash will not match.
Where: Ask · Portfolio sync settings.
How Ask works: data, brokers, privacy & limits
How the data gets in, what the answer is computed from, what stays private, and what the free plan covers.
Can ChatGPT or Claude see my portfolio?
Not by default. A general chatbot knows only what you paste, so it can comment but not calculate. Ask works from the portfolio you keep in Snowball Analytics. To use Claude, Cursor or another app, connect it to Snowball Analytics over MCP on the Expert plan.
Where: Ask in Snowball Analytics · MCP for Claude, Cursor and other AI apps (Snowball Analytics MCP).
Is it safe to paste my holdings into a chatbot?
Pasting puts your positions into a service you do not control, and the answer still lacks prices, dates and cost basis. Ask reads your data read-only. Data sent from Snowball Analytics is anonymized and not used to train models; in Claude, Cursor or another app, that app's own settings apply.
Where: Ask · MCP.
How does Ask avoid inventing numbers?
The model picks which data to fetch and writes the answer; Snowball Analytics holds the data and does the calculation. The yield it quotes is the yield your holdings produce.
Demo portfolio, 24 Sep 2026: passive income of $3,584.53 on the $169,133.46 held outside cash gives the 2.12% the Dividends tab shows.
Where: Ask.
How do I get my portfolio into Snowball Analytics?
Two routes, and both can feed one portfolio. Connect a supported broker and holdings sync daily, or import a broker statement or CSV. Linking a broker needs Starter or above after the trial.
Coverage: 1,000+ brokers and 70+ exchanges.
Where: Portfolio tracker · Import.
Which plan do I need for Ask and for MCP?
Ask is included on every plan, on the web and in the mobile app. MCP, which connects your portfolio to Claude, Cursor and other AI apps, is part of the Expert plan.
Plans: registration starts a 14-day free trial that includes paid features, with no credit card. On the Free plan, portfolios are imported from statements; linking a broker needs a paid plan.
Where: Pricing · Snowball Analytics MCP.
Can I connect my portfolio to Claude, Cursor or other AI apps?
Yes, through Snowball Analytics MCP on the Expert plan. You generate a key on the MCP tab of your profile and add it to the app. It is read-only, and the same tools Ask uses become available there.
Where: Snowball Analytics MCP · help article on connecting.
What data can Ask actually see?
The portfolio you select: holdings and weights, transactions, cash, dividends received and forecast, headline metrics, and market and company data for what you hold. Your saved goal and your category targets stay on their screens.
Where: Ask · Goal and Categories for the rest.
Does Ask give investment advice?
No. Ask describes and calculates: what you hold, what it has done, what the arithmetic says under assumptions you can see. It does not recommend securities or say what to buy or sell.
Where: Ask.
What language can I ask questions in?
The Snowball Analytics app and the examples on this page are in English, so asking in English keeps metric and screen names the same as in the app.
Where: Ask.
Can I ask follow-up questions?
Yes. The last few exchanges travel with each new question, so "and what about since August?" works without restating it. Switching to another portfolio starts a fresh conversation.
Where: Ask.
In the app, or from Claude, Cursor and other AI apps
Ask lives inside Snowball Analytics on every plan. If you would rather work where you already chat, Snowball Analytics MCP connects your portfolio to Claude, Cursor and other apps that support MCP, as read‑only tools. MCP is part of the Expert plan.
Ask, inside Snowball Analytics
Nothing to install. Your portfolio is already there. Ask works on the web and in the mobile app, on every plan.
Snowball Analytics MCP for Claude, Cursor and other AI apps
Fourteen read‑only tools covering holdings and metrics, income and activity, fundamentals and goals. Generate a key on the MCP tab of your profile, paste it into the app once, and regenerate or delete it whenever you like. Snowball Analytics does not train models on the data and does not provide investment recommendations.
Start free, and keep the tracker either way
Portfolio tracking, dividend history and the public community are available without paying. Ask is included on every plan.
On the web and in the mobile app.
Registration comes with a 14‑day free trial that includes paid features. No credit card required.
Connect your portfolio to Claude, Cursor and other apps that support MCP, as read‑only tools.
Ask sits on top of the whole Snowball Analytics ecosystem
Every answer draws on the same data these tools display, so what you read in a chart and what you hear in an answer always agree.
Stop asking AI about a hypothetical portfolio
Import your portfolio, or connect a broker during the trial, and ask the same questions about your own holdings. 14‑day free trial, no credit card.
Start for free, no card requiredFrequently asked questions
Where do the figures on this page come from?
They were read on 24 September 2026 from three public Snowball Analytics portfolios: the Demo portfolio, Ryne's Portfolio and Utbyttereisen. Anyone can open them, so every figure can be checked; they change every trading day. Lines marked "Arithmetic" are calculations on stated assumptions.
Can I get these answers for my own portfolio?
Yes. Import your statements (any plan) or connect your brokers (paid plans and trial), then ask Ask Snowball Analytics or open the screen named in each answer. Answers that need your transaction history — IRR, dividends received, fees — need a portfolio with transaction history.
Does Ask make up numbers?
The model decides which data to fetch and writes the answer; Snowball Analytics holds your data and does the calculation. When a question needs an assumption, such as a return rate, give it in the question.
Is my data safe?
Ask is read-only: nothing can be changed, bought or sold from it. Data sent from Snowball Analytics is anonymized and not used to train models; if you connect Claude, Cursor or another app, that app's own settings apply.
What does it cost?
Ask is included on every plan. Registration starts a 14-day free trial with no credit card. MCP access for other AI apps is part of the Expert plan.
Is this investment advice?
No. The answers describe and calculate your own data and the example portfolios. Snowball Analytics does not recommend securities or say what to buy or sell.