On the Your Portfolio Page, Click 'Add New Portfolio'. Enter your desired name in the text field labeled 'Account Name'. Select either a manual upload portfolio or automatic brokerage linking. Click Update. Upon successful submission, the page will reload.

Automatic linking is available for all supported US brokerages via Plaid. This can be selected in the 'Add New Portfolio' selection prompt or by using the 'Update Auto Link' button on an existing account in the portfolio page. If you have a manual account, this will delete all existing holdings in that account and replace it with an automatic link showing the current holdings in your brokerage account. The automatic linking service through the service Plaid and provides an easier method of importing your current portfolio to the Dividend Data platform.

Click 'Add New Investment'. Select Account from the dropdown menu. Select a stock using the picker labeled 'Stock Symbol'. Enter the total number of shares purchased. Enter the total cost to acquire those shares. (Not cost per share). Check the box if you bought these shares via dividend reinvestment (DRIP). Leave unchecked if you purchased them outright. Click Update. Upon successful submission, the page will reload.

Click 'Bulk Upload New Stocks'. You will need to create a .csv file containing your stocks. This stands for (Comma-separated values), which is a method of storing a spreadsheet. You can create this in any spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, etc.

Now you will need to format your spreadsheet. You should look at my provided example. Column A is the stock ticker. Example (MSFT, KO, XOM). Column B is the number of shares. This should be a number and can include decimals. Column C is the Total Cost. This is the total cost to acquire the number of shares mentioned in column B. This is NOT the cost per share. This is a pure number and can include decimals or commas. Do NOT enter $ before the number. Column D represents whether these shares were from dividend reinvestment or outright purchase. If from dividend reinvestment (DRIP), put 'yes'. If purchased outright, put 'no'.

You will obtain this data from your brokerage. There are multiple ways to accomplish this and it will vary on every platform. You can manually figure it out by viewing your stocks or exporting your portfolio. This initial step may take time, but will be worthwhile to begin tracking your portfolio. Once your spreadsheet is ready, hit save as or download in your spreadsheet editor and save as a .csv file. Now back to the 'Bulk Upload' Dialog Box.

Click 'Choose file'. Your computer file explorer will be brought up. Upload the newly created .csv file. 'Upload complete' will be displayed under the file uploader. Click the 'Update' Button. You will be able to see your upload progress displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen. Upon successful submission, the page will reload.

On Dividend History tab of the Your Portfolio Page, Click 'Add Dividend'. Select Account from the dropdown menu. Select a stock using the picker labeled 'Stock Symbol'. Enter the dollar amount of the earned dividend. Make this a pure number and do NOT enter the $ symbol. Select a Date from the Calendar Picker. This should be the date you received your dividend. Click Update.

Click 'Bulk Upload' on the Dividend History tab of Portfolio Tracking Page. You will need to create a .csv file containing your dividends. This stands for (Comma-separated values), which is a method of storing a spreadsheet. You can create this in any spreadsheet software, such as Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, etc.

Now you will need to format your spreadsheet. You should look at my provided example. Column A is the stock ticker. Example (T, AAPL, PEP). Column B is the dollar amount of the dividend. This should be a number and can include decimals. Do NOT enter $ before the number. Column C is the date you received your dividend. This date should be formatted as [YYYY-MM-DD]. For example (2021-11-01). You will obtain this data from your brokerage. There are multiple ways to accomplish this and it will vary on every platform. Your brokerage will likely have a way to export your dividend activity. I will provide an example in my demo video. This initial step may take time, but will be worthwhile to track your full dividend history. Once your spreadsheet is ready, hit save as or download in your spreadsheet editor and save as a .csv file.

Now back to the 'Bulk Upload' Dialog Box. Click 'Choose file'. Your computer file explorer will be brought up. Upload the newly created .csv file. 'Upload complete' will be displayed under the file uploader. Click the 'Update' Button. You will be able to see your upload progress displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen.

On the Your Portfolio page, navigate to the settings tab or the bottom of portfolio overview. Here you will manually set your custom Dollars Invested for the portfolio. This allows you to calculate your true total return from dividend investing. Reinvested Dividends and Capital Gains are not a cost. This dollars invested variable should represent the money used to initially fund your account.

Also, you can choose whether or not to include or exclude DRIP shares from your cost per share, dollars invested, and total return calculations.

Click 'Claim your Discord Invite' on the 'Discord Community' page. This will allow you to join our private chat room with over 1,300 dividend investors.

If any information does not appear as expected, try reloading the page or signing out. This should resolve the issue in one or multiple attempts. If the issues persist, use the Discord chat or email us with the problem at [email protected]