Getting Started

Rover Portfolio is organized around a simple idea: select what you want to understand on the left, then choose the question you want to answer across the top.

The core pattern

Start with the whole portfolio. Follow the number that needs an explanation.

Use the Dashboard as your first read, then move into focused views for performance, exposure, income, holdings, transactions, cash, value history, and tax lots.

01Choose a scope

Work with a single portfolio or roll up a folder of related accounts.

02Read the Dashboard

Scan value, return, inflows, allocation, holdings, and tax context.

03Open the evidence

Move into the focused workspace behind any number that deserves detail.

1. Choose a portfolio or folder

The sidebar is your portfolio library. Select an individual portfolio for a focused view, or select a folder to see a combined dashboard and performance picture for every portfolio inside it. Folder views aggregate the portfolios below them, including nested folders, so a household, strategy, or account-type folder can become its own complete reporting scope.

You can organize portfolios into folders that match how you think—by household, strategy, account type, or any other useful structure.

When you use a folder as the selection, Rover Portfolio keeps the rollup seamless: values and cash flows are added, matching symbols are combined, returns are weighted, and charts are calculated from the combined daily history.

If your portfolio data already exists in a spreadsheet, brokerage export, or another system, you can create the portfolio from starting positions or transaction history. See Importing portfolio data before preparing the file; it explains the required columns, signs, supported formats, and date behavior.

Good folder candidates

Household, retirement, taxable accounts, income strategy, growth strategy, advisor-managed accounts, or any group you want to analyze as one reporting scope.

2. Start with the Dashboard

The Dashboard gives you the quickest read on the selected portfolio or group. It brings together:

Total valueWhat is this scope worth now?

Period returnHow did the investments perform?

Net inflowsHow much cash entered or left?

AllocationWhere is the exposure concentrated?

Largest holdingsWhich positions drive the result?

Tax previewWhat realized and unrealized gains matter?

Use the Period control to change the reporting window. Dashboard, Performance, Positions, Transactions, Value, Cash, and PDF reports stay synchronized when a reporting date changes in any one of them. The actual date range appears near the Dashboard heading when the available data begins later than your requested start date.

3. Follow the question

Move to a focused view when you want more detail:

If you are asking...	Open this view	What you will see
How did this portfolio perform?	Performance	Overview notes, returns, X-Ray exposure, attribution, income, history, and correlation context.
What do I own?	Positions	Current or historical holdings with grouping and cash inclusion controls.
What activity took place?	Transactions	Trades and cash activity with filters for type and symbol.
How did value develop?	Value	The daily value trail behind Dashboard movement.
Where did money move?	Cash	Deposits, withdrawals, dividends, and other cash movements.
What is the tax-lot picture?	Tax Lots	Open and realized lots with cost-basis method preserved by portfolio.

4. Adjust the display

Tables can be sorted, and several views support grouping or precision controls. Rover Portfolio remembers durable display preferences between sessions while keeping short-lived choices—such as open dialogs or unfinished form entries—temporary.

For a complete breakdown, see Settings Persistence.

What gets remembered?

Sorting, grouping, precision, theme, and several view preferences can follow you across sessions. The synchronized reporting context belongs to the current browser tab, so a fresh tab starts with a clean reporting window. Tax Lots retains its own tax-specific date range.

5. Understand a Dashboard number

Every Dashboard figure has a defined calculation. If two numbers look similar but do not match—for example, value change and investment gain/loss—the difference is usually cash flow.

The Dashboard calculations guide explains each tile, chart, comparison, and aggregation rule in detail.

A good first workflow

1. 1

   Select a portfolio or folder. Choose the scope that matches the decision you are making.

2. 2

   Set the Dashboard period. Pick a window that makes the result meaningful.

3. 3

   Scan the major signals. Look at value, return, inflows, allocation, largest holdings, and tax preview.

4. 4

   Open the focused view. Follow any number that needs more evidence.

5. 5

   Return to the Dashboard. Reconnect the detail to the whole portfolio before deciding what to do next.

Next guideImporting Portfolio Data

Prepare clean starting positions, transaction history, cash activity, and brokerage exports.

Continue →