Connect Your Portfolio for Smarter Insights
Luis Hernandez here… Editor in Chief at InvestorPlace.
Everyone has heroes.
Even one of the great innovators of our age, Elon Musk, has someone he looks up to. And it’s not who you might think.
Sure, Musk admires Nikola Tesla, the namesake of his company, whose pioneering work on AC induction motors changed the world. But in a 2008 interview, Musk noted that the real role model he’d like to emulate is Thomas Edison.
Why? In Musk’s words… “Edison brought his stuff to market and made those inventions accessible to the world.”
That’s a key point.
Creating an innovation is one thing. Making an impact – and a profit – is an even bigger thing.
When I was younger, I was a great admirer of Edison as well
Maybe you had heroes of your own. Maybe you wanted to be the starting shortstop for the New York Yankees, or you wanted to write the great American novel. Or perhaps you were inspired by your parents, or a coach or a teacher who helped you push yourself.
Heroes are important. They help us see what’s possible in our own lives.
Investors often aspire to make money like their heroes. No doubt you’ve seen messages advising you to “invest like Warren Buffett.”
Or maybe you read Market Wizards and found inspiration to trade like Paul Tudor Jones or Richard Dennis.
But here is a hard truth.
The stories about our investing heroes often omit some critical details – including the real reasons they succeeded.
They may not always admit it, but he world’s greatest investors – our heroes – know that building wealth isn’t just about picking winners. It’s about something deeper.
I’m going to share it with you today.
And I’ll show you how to start doing it with a tool that you may not even realize you have access to…
Your Investing Heroes’ Biggest Secret
We admire our heroes for the people they have become – the great investor or writer or baseball player.
What we see and admire is the “finished product.”
What we don’t see, and almost never discuss, is the work our heroes do every day that leads to their success.
Warren Buffett wasn’t born the “Oracle of Omaha.” He worked hard to build his business and earned his reputation over time.
And that is why so many messages to “invest like so-and-so” can fail investors.
When you see a message to “invest like so-and-so,” it’s often asking you to consider your stock picking.
But here is a secret about your investing heroes.
They don’t spend all their time scouring the market for the next small-cap stock that will turn into a giant winner.
They don’t spend time clicking on random ads or listening to podcasts about the next big 10X winner.
Instead, they spend most of their time on managing their portfolio. Why?
Because that is the fastest way to grow your wealth.
It’s not that stock picking doesn’t matter… it’s that managing your portfolio matters MORE.
So, how can you do that? What are the keys to investing like the pros?
We’ll talk about that in a minute.
But first, I have good news for you today.
You are part of a select group of InvestorPlace subscribers who already have access to a state-of-the-art fintech tool – TradeStops.
This new benefit comes to you at no additional cost. And I’ll show you how to access it in just a minute.
This investing platform comes to you from our corporate partners at TradeSmith. By letting TradeStops keep track of your investments as you make them, you can spend more time focused on your portfolio and strategy – and, hopefully, make more money in the process!
To get started using TradeStops – to start saving time and making more money – the first step is to automatically “synchronize” TradeStops with your brokerage account portfolio.
Even if you don’t trade frequently, syncing your investment accounts and managing your portfolio with our user-friendly platform is an easy way to take more control over your finances.
That way you can spend less time switching between multiple websites, and you’ll have more time free to uncover new investment opportunities.
And without a doubt, the most important task for every investor is managing risk. When synced with your investment account, TradeStops’ tools can help you to…
- Closely monitor the risks and potential rewards of every asset you own.
- Track your portfolio performance compared to benchmarks like the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq.
- Create personalized alerts to notify you of price changes and new opportunities.
- Quickly find ways to rebalance your portfolio, so you aren’t over-exposed to risky assets or sectors.
- Set protective stops on your investments to help guard against unnecessary drawdowns.
How to Add and Sync Your Portfolio – Quickly and Safely
While you always have the option to manually input your investment details into a new TradeStops portfolio, the fastest – and by far the easiest – way to set up your portfolios on TradeStops is by using our synchronizing feature.
In this short video, TradeSmith CEO Keith Kaplan explains how easy it is. And after watching the video, below, you’ll also find step-by-step instructions on how to sync your portfolio and get started using TradeStops.
After hearing from Keith, I’m sure you’re now ready to get started with TradeStops.
Here’s how to do it…
First, log in to the TradeSmith Finance platform using the email and password emailed to you earlier. If you need help tracking down that information, email our Customer Success Team at
This is your gateway to the TradeStops portfolio management tool.
From there, you can easily track all of your holdings – stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs, options, and commodities – in one convenient place, getting the details sorted with the click of a button.
To sync your brokerage account with TradeStops, simply go to the My Portfolios page, and then choose Manage. Then click Add Portfolio.
Next, select the Link to Brokerage option.
And click Continue to choose your broker.
Next, select the Link to Brokerage option.
And click Continue to choose your broker.
Next, just select your broker from the list – which includes some of the most popular investment firms on the market. If you don’t see an icon for your broker, you can always search for your broker on this page by typing your broker’s name into the search bar at the top of the list.
TradeStops’ portfolio synchronization features are handled through Yodlee FastLink – a secure-channel connection service trusted by banks and brokerages across the country. And while TradeSmith uses this service to pull data from your account and synchronize it with TradeStops, there’s no need to worry about your security. None of your account credentials are saved to TradeSmith’s servers.
Likewise, making adjustments to a synced TradeStops portfolio will not place an order with your brokerage. So, you’re free to experiment and research without fear of making a trade error.
If you still have a hard time finding your broker listed, TradeSmith may be able to link it using their alternative data provider. Please contact TradeSmith’s Customer Success team at support@tradesmith.com for details.
After selecting your broker, simply follow the prompts to complete your portfolio sync with your TradeStops account.
Now, when you initially synchronize your broker account, TradeSmith gathers as much information as possible to accurately track all of your investment positions.
However, some brokers don’t provide them with some of this data. This can happen for a number of reasons, but here are some of the most common:
- The required information is not on the same page within your broker account.
- The position was purchased more than 90 days ago.
- The data is returned in a format that is challenging for our program to read.
However, there are usually quick and easy solutions to swiftly sort out any of these data mismatches.
Here’s how.
First: Gather These Data Columns
Almost all of the data columns you can see in your brokerage account are customizable. If one or more of the columns below are not on your account holdings page, some fields may be missing when the data is passed to TradeSmith. Please include the columns below in your brokerage holdings view:
- Symbol
- Quantity (Shares)
- Value
- Latest Price
- Total Cost Basis
Also, some investment assets imported from your broker may not be recognized by TradeSmith’s systems – and these assets may not save correctly. The symbol may differ from the one listed in their database, or it may be one of the few symbols they do not have available in their database.
But you can easily identify any issues by looking for the red triangle to the left of these unsaved positions. And when you hover over the position, you may see the message “Symbol not recognized,” as shown below:
If the symbol differs from the one in their database, it can be saved manually.
- From your Positions page, click the symbol of the position.
- A Confirm Position pop-up window will appear, where you can easily search our database that includes tens of thousands of assets by typing the symbol or company name.
- If it’s available, click on the correct symbol or company name and click “OK.”
If for any reason you are still not able to find the symbol in the TradeSmith database, don’t fret. They are constantly expanding the number of assets they track.
In this case, it’s easy to put in a request to add the symbol you are looking for by contacting Customer Support at support@tradesmith.com.
Position Entry Dates and Entry Prices
Entry dates and prices for some assets may not always transfer on the initial import of your account details. That’s because TradeSmith only receives the most recent transaction history from your broker when syncing via Yodlee FastLink.
But there’s an easy fix: You can add this information yourself. To add entry dates and prices manually, select the positions in your portfolio by using the checkboxes on the far left of your screen, and use the “Bulk Edit” option. This will allow you to quickly enter your entry dates and entry prices:
If we receive your purchase transaction correctly, newly purchased positions imported during our daily updates should successfully pull over the entry date.
Simple Data Edits for Options Positions
Sometimes, options data can get mixed up in the process of syncing your account with TradeStops. Details including the expiration month, strike price, and whether the contract is a call or put can be missing for synchronized options positions.
That’s because brokers format options data differently.
If TradeSmith does not get compatible information from your broker, your option will appear with just the underlying stock symbol in the option symbol field. But there’s an easy workaround.
By simply clicking the symbol, you will be able to manually enter any missing data to save your full option symbol correctly…
Bottom Line: Because time really is money, you can save plenty of your valuable time by automatically syncing your brokerage account with TradeStops. This process allows you to easily keep up to date on all your holdings – all in one place.
You can set interactive alerts and protective stops on all your investments to be notified just as soon as anything changes. Plus, make full use of other TradeSmith tools to find new investment opportunities to enhance your profit potential.
Find out more by checking out the TradeStops Quick-Start Guide.
And there is much more information to be found in the TradeSmith Education Center. Once on the TradeSmith Finance platform, just click the Help button near the top right of the screen or click here.
With TradeStops, you have the key piece of technology that can help you invest like your heroes. With it, you can stop just admiring them… and instead start investing like them.
Make sure you’ve watched Keith’s video above.
