In microsoft.public.money, johnmohlengraft[at]gmail.com wrote:

- quote -

Ignore the cost basis column for a 401K account.

Instead click
ChangePortfolioView-> CustomizeCurrentView-> PortfolioColumns

Select each of the seven TotalReturn items, and click Add. Also
select TotalAnnualizedReturn. These will give a much better view of
how each of your investments have been performing. You can reorder
them by selecting one in the DisplayedColumns and choosing MoveUp or
MoveDown. You may want to select CostBasis on the right, and click
Remove. That column is very meaningful for non-deferred accounts,
but you should not care about that column for a 401K.

When done, you can do SaveAs. Money will ask for a name for that
view. Then you will be able to select that view with SelectView in
the upper-right of the portfolio. Alternatively, click Save, and the
view that was in effect when you clicked CustomizeCurrentView will
be modified.

You can also reorder and resize columns by dragging the column
headings while viewing a portfolio.

Here is the problem with having DRI part of cost basis.

Fund # 1 Cost Basis $100 Value $100
Fund # 2 Cost Basis $100 Value $105

Fund 2 looks better but what is hidden is that Fund 1's Original
investment was $75 and while the price has not changed for Fund 1, the
Div's have been racking up nicely and Fund 1 is way out performing Fund
2. The Div part of the Funds performance is hidden because of the
"accepted" method of coming up with the cost basis.

In microsoft.public.money, johnmohlengraft[at]gmail.com wrote:

- quote -


Suppose you were to not reinvest the distribution in the same
security, but instead bought something else with the distribution,
you would not expect the basis of the shares you already had to
decline would you? So if you then by more with the distribution,
then the basis would increase.

If you want to redefine cost basis to your own definition, then
don't enter dividends and buys. Instead enter splits to account for
the increase in shares, and adjust the share price to account for
the value. I don't recommend it, yet it is a way to do what you seem
to be asking for.

If you want to see how your funds are progressing with better normal
methods, configure in the total return columns as suggested to you
when you posted before.

Is there anyway to view the "true" Cost Basis of an investment in my
401k. All are set to 25% but all of the cost basis' are way different.
If I manually subtract the Dividends and Cap Gains, they all match.

I found this because I was reevaluating my allocations and saw that one
fund has lost money (value is lower than Cost Basis), but it's CB was
higher than all others. At first glance it seemed like this was a dog,
but given all the dividends this fund puts out, its actually doing well.