Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

ghostfol.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 162 posts

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#121

Post by mushufasa »

tristor wrote: post #47
FrustratedMonky wrote: post #16

Isn't "wealth" a misnomer. Do people with real wealth really use open source tools? Or do they have meetings with their accountants, bankers, brokers. This is really "wanna be wealthy" tools.

Most of the wealthiest people in the world actually manage their own wealth as their primary occupation (which can take many facets). There are places to hire professionals to assist, but until you are in the tens of millions or more in net worth it's usually a better deal to self-manage because professionals expect a percentage of assets under management as a fee. Once you have a high enough net worth you operate a…

> You don't get wealthy by giving someone else 1% of AUM for performing on-par with a passive investment in index funds you could self-manage.

This is how advisors are typically paid, but this isn't all that they do. Empirically, as people make more money, they turn more to advisors and away from self-directed or robo apps.

Lots of people have opined on why, if you follow the trade publications for advisors. To me, the reasoning comes down to risk: if you have a lot at stake then you will pay money for a lawyer to review for $$$$ per hour. If you have a lot of money you will pay 1% if you can feel more comfortable that the advisor is handling all the aspects of it and you can sleep better at night.

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#122

Post by esprehn »

jmprspret wrote: post #119

I never understand how these kinds of software do data importing. Do you have to manually import these things every time I do a trade or I get my paycheck or spend $2 at the corner shop? If so that seems annoying

There's bank data aggregators like Yodlee. If the app uses that it can auto import transactions. Ghostfolio seems to be oriented around manual import though (export csv from your bank and import yourself periodically).

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#123

Post by vba616 »

matthewtse wrote: post #31
xur17 wrote: post #14

Very neat, excited to take a look, and especially excited that it is self hostable / open source. I've tried a number of services like this, and always end up back on a spreadsheet because: 1. I hate giving my data to a third party 2. There always ends up being some limitation that forces me to exclude part of my assets, doesn't let me handle something the way I wish, etc

Yes same! I've always wanted some "simpler" net worth tracker, still on a spreadsheet at this point. I never liked the big heavy ones with all the bells/whistle integrations that want your password so they can log directly into your financial accounts. And the integration would always break, causing my net worth to swing by double digit percentage points. I ended up spending more time nursing the integration than act…

1. Excel. 2. KeePass. 3. Selenium. 4. VBA.

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#124

Post by cwalv »

wintermutestwin wrote: post #99
LoveMortuus wrote: post #93

Why did the site hijack the back button? I tried to return to HN but it just kept reloading into the ghostfol.io site...

I am always baffled by people who actually use the back and forward buttons. I guess I just assume that everyone opens links by right-clicking and opening in a new tab. Is there some reason why back and forward is a better or even useful option?

I hit the same problem as gp, on mobile, tho I did open in a new tab (hold+open in new tab). The back button is usually a quick swipe from right to get me back to what I was reading.

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#125

Post by gh02t »

jmprspret wrote: post #119

I never understand how these kinds of software do data importing. Do you have to manually import these things every time I do a trade or I get my paycheck or spend $2 at the corner shop? If so that seems annoying

I use Firefly III (which isn't quite the same but similar issue) and import csv exports from my bank and other accounts. I have to jump through some hoops with Selenium to automate downloading the csv files but it works mostly reliably after some fiddling.

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#126

Post by bboygravity »

jmprspret wrote: post #119

I never understand how these kinds of software do data importing. Do you have to manually import these things every time I do a trade or I get my paycheck or spend $2 at the corner shop? If so that seems annoying

I just use a spreadsheet in Libre Calc that scrapes prices of securities (almost) live from public sources using an extension.

All I need to do is keep track of whatever I transfer to my broker and number of securities purchased for each type of security.

Works well enough for an investor. Does not work well enough for a gambler (day trader) :p

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#127

Post by vba616 »

multicast wrote: post #70
darau1 wrote: post #45

Anybody care to define "wealth management" as opposed to run-of-the-mill personal accounting? Why would I use this instead of ledger[1], for example? - [1]: https://ledger-cli.org/doc/ledger3.html

"Real" wealth management has a lot more legal work behind it since a non trivial portion of wealth management are topics like inheritance and planing for the next generation. Also wealth management is more focused on wealth preservation than generating high returns, that is more the focus of asset management (e.g. hedge funds, private equity etc.). But since this piece of software is focused on the individual the ter…

>"Real" wealth management has a lot more legal work behind it

This is just me, but if I had legal work and deep pockets, I'd hire a lawyer.

>a majority of people think that when it comes to finance they can compete on an equal level with experts who do this every day

>But if your skilled you surely save a ton of fees.

If you are "focused on wealth preservation" rather than "generating high returns", what is the need for skill?

If I won the lottery, and I just sent, say, a $500M check to a regular discount broker and bought an index fund, is someone going to take it away from me? Are the wealth management divisions of every podunk bank and credit union there for a reason? Would I need to hire "protection"?

Warren Buffett famously said he "upon his passing, has directed the trustee for his wife’s benefit to “put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund.”

And Barack Obama reportedly put all his assets in government bonds when he became President to avoid conflicts of interest.

Obviously not everyone takes this sort of simple approach, but some famous examples seem to prove it's possible.

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#128

Post by vba616 »

mushufasa wrote: post #118
mritchie712 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their advice isn't necessarily terrible, it's just strongly biased towards them making a buck off you.

It used to be standard for advisors to make money on commission, which led to terrible incentives (read: they are paid to get you into particular investments, which is an incentive to recommend things that make them money even if they are bad for you). This practice is declining, but you still find it at the big banks and brokers. "Fee only" advisors means they only take a fee from you, so they don't have this confli…

>e.g. sitting in cash

I read somewhere (but didn't do my own research) Schwab's business model these days, maybe others, is making money off idle customer cash, now that they don't charge trading commissions. They may not want customers to buy anything.

With interest rates up so much, I would guess it is even more lucrative?

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#129

Post by upon_drumhead »

vba616 wrote: post #128
mushufasa wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It used to be standard for advisors to make money on commission, which led to terrible incentives (read: they are paid to get you into particular investments, which is an incentive to recommend things that make them money even if they are bad for you). This practice is declining, but you still find it at the big banks and brokers. "Fee only" advisors means they only take a fee from you, so they don't have this confli…

>e.g. sitting in cash I read somewhere (but didn't do my own research) Schwab's business model these days, maybe others, is making money off idle customer cash, now that they don't charge trading commissions. They may not want customers to buy anything. With interest rates up so much, I would guess it is even more lucrative?

With VMRXX giving a YTD compound yield of 5.41% ( https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/mutual-fun... ), I've actually been happy to have parked a bunch of cash and not touched it.

Re: Ghostfolio: Open-source wealth management software

#130

Post by xcdzvyn »

mirzap wrote: post #90
ghostpepper wrote: post #87

Maybe I'm just getting old but it always makes me skeptical when something is introduced as "Open Source" and then the main landing page includes a pricing tab.

What's wrong with paying for the software? You get the source code, they provide you the service if you don't want to handle it by your self.

I think GP means seeing a pricing section without any extra details suggests the open-source version is limited in some way, with certain features paywalled. That's how I see it.
Post reply on HN