Re: rolling dice


Chris Torek <nospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Chris Torek <nospam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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What I wonder is: how could one *fail* to handle reverse splits?

In article <xWuYg.280257$QM6.162653@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Bill Reid <hormelfree@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
You already failed by using integers!

Sometimes splits are declared in the form of "1.5 to 1". Of course,
that's "3 to 2", but only after you go through the process of MANUALLY
converting the actual split data to an integer representation.

Fine for your purposes MAYBE (I'm not going to rack my brain now
to try to remember any possible cases where even this wouldn't work) ...

It would work whenever there is some integer ratio, which (as I
think I said earlier) is all I needed. The program gains features
only once I need them. :-) However, I just checked the code, and
it turns out that I used floating-point for both the numerator and
denominator anyway.

There you go, no reason not to use the type it will generally be
promoted to within nanoseconds...

[% Hence, it properly extracts and combines short- and long-term
capital gains and losses but not (yet) 5-year gains, and it always
works on the calendar year rather than arbitrary fiscal years. It
does not handle securities that morph upon a buyout or merger, or
change symbols, etc.]

Rotsa ruck with that, my code can, but at the expense of my sanity!

Indeed. This is why I chose not to bother.

Well, I'm not that familiar with commercial portfolio software, but
I'm pretty sure they can account for all this stuff as long as you
MANUALLY enter the changes. Me, I'm after the "total return"
of the "total market" over time frames, since that impacts the
supply-demand ratio for stocks (and all other investments)...

... with about 15 different types of dividends possible, including,
you guessed it, giving additional shares of stock, which is NOT
the same thing as a stock "split"!

Again, not something I have personally had to deal with ... so, not
in my code. (I am not even sure how the IRS would want me to adjust
my cost bases.)

Right now, I'm not sure either...seems like a "dividend" of additional
stock would require some kind of stepped-up basis or something like
that, and might even subject you to some kind of possible AMT horror
if you didn't sell your "dividend" right away...

---
William Ernest Reid



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