The Problem: Investment Sprawl
The average UK investor has 3-5 different investment accounts:
- Workplace pension with their employer's provider
- Old workplace pension from a previous job
- Stocks & Shares ISA with a platform like Vanguard or Hargreaves Lansdown
- A few hundred pounds in crypto on Coinbase or Binance
- Maybe some Premium Bonds or a Cash ISA
Each has its own app, its own login, and its own way of showing your balance. You know you have investments, but you don't know your total portfolio value without logging into five different places and adding it up manually. Most people never bother, and that is the problem.
Why It Matters
- Asset allocation: Without seeing everything together, you might be over-exposed to one asset class without realising it
- Net worth: Your investments are a huge part of your net worth, ignoring them gives you an incomplete picture
- Tax planning: Knowing which accounts are ISA-wrapped vs taxable changes your strategy
- Goal tracking: "Am I on track for retirement?" is unanswerable if you can't see all your pension pots together
Option 1: Spreadsheet
The traditional approach. Create a Google Sheet with columns for: - Account name - Provider - Asset class - Current value - Last updated
Pros: Free, flexible, you control it. Cons: Manual updates, easy to forget, no automatic price feeds.
This works if you are disciplined. Most people are not, and there are better tools now.
Option 2: Aggregation App
Tools like CoreFi let you add all your investment holdings in one place: - 16 asset classes (ISA, SIPP, GIA, crypto, stocks, property, Premium Bonds, etc.) - Manual input for accounts that don't support Open Banking - Track cost basis vs current value (gain/loss) - See total portfolio value and allocation breakdown - Net worth calculation includes investments automatically
The honest limitation: if a platform doesn't support Open Banking or data export, you are still entering values by hand. Even manual tracking beats not tracking at all.
Option 3: Platform Consolidation
If you have old pensions scattered across providers, consider consolidating them into a single SIPP. Services like PensionBee or Nutmeg can help.
Warning: Check for exit fees and guaranteed annuity rates before transferring old pensions. Some older defined-benefit or with-profits schemes carry benefits that disappear on transfer. If in doubt, get independent advice before moving anything.
What to Track
For each investment, record: 1. Provider (e.g., Vanguard, Fidelity) 2. Wrapper (ISA, SIPP, GIA, unwrapped) 3. Asset class (equities, bonds, cash, crypto, property) 4. Current value (update monthly or when prices change significantly) 5. Cost basis (what you originally invested)
The wrapper column matters more than people think. Two portfolios with identical holdings can carry very different tax bills depending on whether they sit in an ISA or a GIA. Knowing what you own is step one. Knowing where you own it is step two.