jGnash is a free, cross-platform, Java-based personal finance manager that natively supports double-entry accounting. Unlike tracking tools that require you to enter arbitrary values, jGnash handles your investments with strict bookkeeping rules while offering automated tools to make monitoring your portfolio easy.
Here is how you can set up investment accounts and track stocks within the platform: Setting Up Investment Accounts
To accurately reflect your real-world portfolio, you must structure your account hierarchy logically.
Create a Brokerage Parent Account: Start by creating a primary asset account for each of your financial institutions (e.g., “Fidelity Brokerage” or “Vanguard”). This account should be denominated in your local currency.
Add a Cash/Settlement Sub-Account: Inside the parent account, set up a sub-account of type Bank or Cash. This is where your uninvested money sits and where funds are drawn from when you buy stocks.
Create Individual Stock Sub-Accounts: You must create a unique sub-account of type Stock or Investment for each individual security you own (e.g., a sub-account named “AAPL” for Apple). The account register for this type provides columns for share count and price per share.
Set Up Income and Expense Sub-Accounts: To track your portfolio’s performance cleanly, create related sub-accounts for Income:Dividends:[Ticker] and Expense:Commissions to separate stock appreciation from cash flow. Tracking Stocks and Updating Prices
Once your account infrastructure is complete, jGnash handles transactions and automatically updates your portfolio value. 9.4. Setup Investment Portfolio – GnuCash