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I wrote a web tool that automatically syncs all my brokerage transactions from multiple brokerages (either using their APIs or web scraping). It also grabs dail

I wrote a web tool that automatically syncs all my brokerage transactions from multiple brokerages (either using their APIs or web scraping). It also grabs daily closing prices of my stocks and relevant foreign exchange rates from public sources, and then presents me with a bunch of graphs that I find relevant. It does my capital gains tax calculations every year. It took me probably 6 months of hacking on it in my free time.

BadCookie 5y ago
I’m curious: Why did you choose to do this yourself rather than use something like Personal Capital?
- cecilpl2 5y ago
  Personal Capital isn't available for Canadians. In fact, there existed no other alternatives at the time (~2017). Especially none that did things like adjusting the cost basis of each security based on the foreign exchange rate on the day of purchase, and tracking gain/loss correctly in Canadian dollars. I also needed it to sync with my work's group RRSP provider which doesn't offer a standard API. I don't know if this market has improved in the last 5 years, but I have a system I'm happy with now. :)
  - BadCookie 5y ago
    Thanks for responding! I have the same issue with having multiple brokerage accounts. I haven’t signed up for Personal Capital because I read that they try to upsell you on wealth management services by phone periodically, plus I am uncomfortable giving my brokerage login credentials to them (or any other third-party service). So I was wondering if you were in the same boat!
    - cecilpl2 5y ago
      Yeah I was definitely uncomfortable about giving brokerage logic credentials to anyone. Some brokerages can give you a read-only API key you can supply to an app, which is nice for systems like this. Maybe see if yours do that? Wealthica is a Personal Capital competitor. Maybe take a look at them?
      - BadCookie 5y ago
        I’ll check them out, thanks.

BadCookie 5y ago

I’m curious: Why did you choose to do this yourself rather than use something like Personal Capital?

cecilpl2 5y ago
Personal Capital isn't available for Canadians. In fact, there existed no other alternatives at the time (~2017). Especially none that did things like adjusting the cost basis of each security based on the foreign exchange rate on the day of purchase, and tracking gain/loss correctly in Canadian dollars. I also needed it to sync with my work's group RRSP provider which doesn't offer a standard API. I don't know if this market has improved in the last 5 years, but I have a system I'm happy with now. :)
- BadCookie 5y ago
  Thanks for responding! I have the same issue with having multiple brokerage accounts. I haven’t signed up for Personal Capital because I read that they try to upsell you on wealth management services by phone periodically, plus I am uncomfortable giving my brokerage login credentials to them (or any other third-party service). So I was wondering if you were in the same boat!
  - cecilpl2 5y ago
    Yeah I was definitely uncomfortable about giving brokerage logic credentials to anyone. Some brokerages can give you a read-only API key you can supply to an app, which is nice for systems like this. Maybe see if yours do that? Wealthica is a Personal Capital competitor. Maybe take a look at them?
    - BadCookie 5y ago
      I’ll check them out, thanks.