Managing Investment Accounts
Investment accounts in Sure go beyond simple balance tracking. They help you understand your portfolio through holdings, trades, cost basis tracking, and investment activity labels.Understanding Holdings
A holding represents your position in a specific security. For example, if you own 50 shares of Apple stock, that’s one holding. Each holding tracks:- Security - What you own (stock, ETF, mutual fund, crypto)
- Quantity - How many shares or units you hold
- Price - Current market price per share
- Amount - Total current value (quantity x price)
- Cost Basis - What you originally paid
Securities Types
Sure supports various security types:| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Stocks | Individual company shares (AAPL, GOOGL) |
| ETFs | Exchange-traded funds (SPY, VTI) |
| Mutual Funds | Pooled investment funds |
| Crypto | Bitcoin, Ethereum, other cryptocurrencies |
| Bonds | Fixed-income securities |
Cost Basis Tracking
Cost basis is the original purchase price of your investments. It’s essential for:- Calculating gains and losses
- Understanding investment performance
- Tax reporting
Cost Basis Sources
Sure tracks cost basis from three sources, in order of priority:| Priority | Source | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Highest) | Manual | Values you enter directly |
| 2 | Calculated | Computed from your buy trades |
| 3 (Lowest) | Provider | Imported from your financial institution |
Setting Cost Basis Manually
You can set cost basis in two ways: From the Holdings List:- Navigate to your investment account
- Find the holding in your portfolio
- Click the pencil icon next to the average cost
- Enter either:
- Total cost basis: The total amount you paid for all shares
- Per-share cost: The average price per share
- Click Save
- Click on a holding to open its detail drawer
- In the Overview section, click the pencil icon next to “Average Cost”
- Enter the cost basis (total or per-share)
- Click Save
[!TIP] The cost basis editor provides real-time conversion between total and per-share values. Enter whichever format you have available, and Sure calculates the other automatically.
Lock Protection
When you manually set a cost basis, Sure automatically locks it to prevent automatic updates from overwriting your value. You’ll see a lock icon indicating the value is protected. This ensures your manual entries remain intact during account syncs.Unlocking Cost Basis
If you want Sure to recalculate cost basis from your trades:- Open the holding drawer
- Scroll to the Settings section
- Find “Cost basis locked”
- Click Unlock
- The lock icon disappears
- Future syncs can update the cost basis
- Calculated values (from trades) will replace the manual value
Investment Activity Labels
Activity labels help you classify investment transactions. They appear as badges in your transaction list and help you understand your investment activity at a glance.Available Activity Labels
| Label | Description |
|---|---|
| Buy | Purchase of securities |
| Sell | Sale of securities |
| Contribution | Money added to the investment account |
| Withdrawal | Money removed from the investment account |
| Dividend | Dividend payments received |
| Interest | Interest earned |
| Reinvestment | Dividends or distributions reinvested |
| Sweep In | Cash swept into the account |
| Sweep Out | Cash swept out of the account |
| Fee | Account or transaction fees |
| Exchange | Currency or security exchanges |
| Transfer | Internal transfers |
| Other | Miscellaneous transactions |
Setting Labels Manually
- Open a transaction from an investment or crypto account
- Scroll to the Settings section
- Find “Activity type”
- Select a label from the dropdown
- The change saves automatically
Setting Labels with Rules
Create rules to automatically label transactions based on patterns:- Go to Settings > Rules
- Create a new rule
- Set conditions (e.g., “IF transaction name contains ‘DIVIDEND’”)
- Add action: “Set investment activity label”
- Choose the label (e.g., “Dividend”)
- Save the rule
- IF name contains “DIVIDEND” THEN set label to “Dividend”
- IF name contains “INTEREST” THEN set label to “Interest”
- IF name contains “FEE” THEN set label to “Fee”
[!NOTE] Internal movement labels (Transfer, Sweep In, Sweep Out, Exchange) are automatically excluded from budget calculations since they represent cash management rather than income or expenses.
Tax Treatment Categories
Investment accounts have different tax implications based on their type:| Category | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Taxable | Gains taxed when realized | Brokerage, UGMA/UTMA |
| Tax-Deferred | Taxes deferred until withdrawal | 401(k), Traditional IRA, 403(b) |
| Tax-Exempt | Qualified gains are tax-free | Roth IRA, Roth 401(k), ISA |
| Tax-Advantaged | Special tax benefits with conditions | 529 Plan, HSA |
Understanding Gains and Losses
Sure helps you track two types of gains:Unrealized Gains/Losses
Paper gains or losses on holdings you still own:Realized Gains/Losses
Actual gains or losses from securities you’ve sold. These are what matter for taxes. The Trend indicator on each holding shows your unrealized gain or loss, calculated from your cost basis. If cost basis is unknown (no trades and no manual entry), the trend won’t display.Crypto-Specific Features
Crypto accounts work similarly to investment accounts but have unique characteristics:| Subtype | Description | Manual Trades |
|---|---|---|
| Wallet | Self-custody or provider-synced | No |
| Exchange | Centralized exchanges (Coinbase, etc.) | Yes |
- Exchange accounts support manual trade entry, letting you record buys and sells
- Wallet accounts are sync-only—holdings are updated through provider connections
Adding Investment Accounts
- Click + Add Account on your dashboard
- Select Investment or Crypto
- Choose the appropriate subtype (see Account Types for all options)
- Enter your account details:
- Account name
- Current balance
- Tax treatment (if different from default)
- Click Create Account