18 KiB
MOCKUPS
Mockups, draft docs and notes exploring possible future features. See also https://github.com/simonmichael/hledger/tree/master/doc/mockups
Lot terminology
Some investment-related terminology, as we use it here and in the PTA world:
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"Investment" - something whose value fluctuates while you hold it.
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Acquiring, disposing - receiving and getting rid of investments, whether by purchase, exchange, gift, stock options..
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Augmenting, reducing - the same thing; terminology used in Beancount docs. Most often the investment is an asset and acquiring/augmenting increases a positive balance, but with other kinds of investments (options..) it might decrease a negative balance. Acquiring/augmenting increases your exposure (risk), disposing/reducing reduces it.
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Lot - a quantity of an investment purchased at a specific time and cost. It may also have descriptive note attached. With many investments, lots must be tracked individually for tax reporting.
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Cost basis - a lot's acquisition cost. More generally, the combination of acquisition time, cost, and note if any.
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Capital gain/loss - your net profit or loss arising from the change in value of an investment since you acquired it. Some times abbreviated as "gains" in these docs. While you are holding the investment, you have unrealised gains, which fluctuate along with the market value. Once you dispose of it, you have realised gains. Capital gain/loss has tax consequences.
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Reduction strategy, lot selection - the order in which lots are reduced, eg when you are selling a stock or gifting some cryptocurrency, which ones do you reduce first ? Common strategies: FIFO (first in first out), LIFO (last in first out), and Specific Order (a custom order, which should be recorded). The reduction strategy affects capital gains now and later, and has tax consequences. Sometimes you can choose it, at other times it is mandated by the tax authorities.
Lot ideas
2023-01 Some examples/brainstorming of lot notations and functionality.
I believe one could emulate most of ledger/beancount's lot tracking/selection with simpler syntax - just @, with less or no need for {} (curly brace syntax).
Explicit lot accounts
Eg here, using explicit subaccounts to track lots, no {} is needed.:
2022-01-01 buy at 10
assets:aaa:_20220101 10 AAA @ $10
assets:cash $-100
2022-02-01 buy at 12
assets:aaa:_20220201 10 AAA @ $12
assets:cash $-120
2022-03-01 sell at 20
assets:aaa:_20220101 -10 AAA @ $10 ; original cost basis
assets:aaa:_20220201 -5 AAA @ $12
assets:cash $300
revenues:gains $-140
Inferring cost from lot account
Assuming each lot subaccount holds only one lot, the cost basis could be recalled automatically when selling, though it's less readable:
2022-01-01 buy at 10
assets:aaa:_20220101 10 AAA @ $10
assets:cash $-100
2022-02-01 buy at 12
assets:aaa:_20220201 10 AAA @ $12
assets:cash $-120
2022-03-01 sell at 20
assets:aaa:_20220101 -10 AAA ; @ $10 implied
assets:aaa:_20220201 -5 AAA ; @ $12 implied
assets:cash $300
revenues:gains $-140
Cost in lot account name
Cost basis could also be indicated in the subaccount name:
2022-01-01 buy at 10
assets:aaa:_20220101_$10 10 AAA @ $10
assets:cash $-100
2022-02-01 buy at 12
assets:aaa:_20220201_$12 10 AAA @ $12
assets:cash $-120
2022-03-01 sell at 20
assets:aaa:_20220101_$10 -10 AAA ; @ $10 implied, now more clear
assets:aaa:_20220201_$12 -5 AAA
assets:cash $300
revenues:gains $-140
Automatic lot accounts
Lot subaccounts could be created automatically, without having to write them; and could be used to select lots when withdrawing:
2022-01-01 buy at 10
assets:aaa 10 AAA @ $10 ; creates _20220101_$10 subaccount
assets:cash $-100
2022-02-01 buy at 12
assets:aaa 10 AAA @ $12 ; creates _20220201_$12
assets:cash $-120
2022-03-01 sell at 20
assets:aaa:_20220201_$12 -10 AAA ; select lot by subaccount
assets:aaa:_20220101_$10 -5 AAA ; LIFO order here
assets:cash $300
revenues:gains $-130
Implicit lots
Or there could be no lot subaccounts, just lots tracked implictly by the tool, with special commands to view them, as in ledger/beancount:
2022-01-01 buy at 10
assets:aaa 10 AAA @ $10 ; creates an implicit lot
assets:cash $-100
2022-02-01 buy at 12
assets:aaa 10 AAA @ $12 ; view lots with bal --lots
assets:cash $-120
Reduction strategy
Whether explicit, automatic or implicit, lots could be selected automatically according to some reduction strategy, specified eg with a tag:
2022-03-01 sell at 20, FIFO
assets:aaa -15 AAA ; reduce lots FIFO by default
assets:cash $300
revenue:gains ; $-140 calculated
2022-03-01 sell at 20, LIFO
assets:aaa -15 AAA ; reduce:LIFO
assets:cash $300
revenue:gains ; $-130 calculated
The above are easy to enter but less informative and hard to calculate by eye; you could use the tool to convert to a more explicit entry:
2022-03-01 sell at 20, FIFO
assets:aaa -10 AAA @ $10
assets:aaa -5 AAA @ $12
assets:cash $300
revenue:gains $-140
2022-03-01 sell at 20, LIFO
assets:aaa -10 AAA @ $12
assets:aaa -5 AAA @ $10
assets:cash $300
revenue:gains $-130
Lot selection syntax
If lots are implicit, ie there are no subaccounts by which to select them, some special syntax is needed to allow identifying them individually by cost, date, and/or note. This could be {}, [], tags, or something new. Eg:
2022-03-01 sell at 20, taking 3 alternately from each lot
assets:aaa -3 AAA {@ $10} ; lot 1
assets:aaa -3 AAA {2022-02-01} ; lot 2
assets:aaa -3 AAA {buy at 10} ; lot 1
assets:aaa -3 AAA {@ $10, 2022-02-01, buy at 12} ; lot 2
assets:aaa -3 AAA ; lot-date:2022-01-01, lot-cost:$10, lot-note:buy at 10, (lot 1)
assets:cash $300
revenue:gains $-138
Use of curly braces
I don't see the need to use {} as much as Ledger/Beancount do. In particular, Ledger/Beancount's {} syntax allows creating a lot with a cost basis different from what it cost you in the transaction acquiring it. What is the real need for this, and how often is it needed ?
It's not needed eg when buying a commodity at a rate different from the market rate; you can do:
2022-01-01 receive AAA, currently worth $10, with effective cost to us of ~$11 because of fees
revenues:usd -10 AAA @ $10
expenses:fees 1 AAA
equity:basis adjustment -1 AAA
assets:cash 9 AAA @ $11.111
commodity $0.00 ; help hledger balance the above
Investments vs one-time transactions
Not yet mentioned: some commodities/balances fluctuate in value while you hold them (eg an investment) and others are a one-time conversion (eg buying foreign currency at the airport).
@ can be used for both of these, it's essentially a matter of which cost you calculate with when disposing:
2022-01-01 buy at 10, hold with fluctuating value
assets:aaa 10 AAA @ $10 ; today's acquisition cost
assets:cash $-100
2022-03-01 sell at 20, with capital gain/loss
assets:aaa -10 AAA @ $10 ; original acquisition cost
assets:cash $200
revenue:gains $-100
2022-01-01 exchange SEK for USD, one-time conversion
assets:cash -100 SEK
assets:cash 10 USD @ 10 SEK ; today's conversion cost
2022-03-01 exchange back to SEK, one-time conversion
assets:cash -10 USD @ 11 SEK ; today's conversion cost
assets:cash 110 SEK
I believe @ and {} were intended to/can/do distinguish between these. If using only @ there needs to be some other mechanism to indicate fluctuating value vs one-time conversion, or so it seems - eg an annotation on the transaction, the account, or the commodity.
Price syntax
In Ledger and hledger
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In the journal, a
P DATE COMMODITY AMOUNTdirective some commodity's market price in some other commodity on DATE. (A timestamp may be added, but is ignored.) -
In a posting,
AMT @ UNITPRICEdeclares the per-unit price that was used to convert AMT into the price's commodity. Eg:2A @ 3Brecords that 2A was posted, in exchange for 6B. -
@@ TOTALPRICEis another form of@, sometimes more convenient. Eg:2A @@ 5.99Brecords that 2A was posted in exchange for 5.99B.
In Ledger
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@ UNITPRICEAny use of@also generates an implicitPdirective. Eg:2019/1/1 a 2A @ 3B bin the journal is equivalent to writing
2019/1/1 a 2A @ 3B b P 2019/1/1 A 1.5B -
{UNITPRICE} -
{=FIXEDUNITPRICE}
The following are variants of the above; they work the same way except that you write the total instead of the unit price:
@@ TOTALPRICE{{TOTALPRICE}}{{=FIXEDTOTALPRICE}}
In hledger
@does not generate a market price{}and{=}are ignored
Capital gains
A model for capital gains
Capital gain/loss (when the value of assets you hold increases/decreases due to market price fluctuations) - is an important topic, since it can generate tax liability.
Here is a description of how it works, intended for both users and builders of accounting software (especially, plain text accounting software). (I'm a software engineer, not an accountant. In places there may be better accounting terms I'm not familiar with yet.)
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lots/units - A quantity of some commodity, acquired at a certain price on a certain date, is called a lot, or unit. (I'm not sure which is the most standard term. Using lot for now.)
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Since you might have purchased the lot on a stock exchange, received it as a gift, or something else, we'll call this event lot acquisition, on the acquisition date.
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Later you might sell the lot for cash, or exchange it for something else, or gift it. We'll call this lot disposal.
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You might have paid current market value for the lot, or you might have paid less or more than that. We'll call what you paid/exchanged the acquisition amount.
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I think the acquisition amount is also called the basis or cost basis. Or possibly the current market value is the basis, regardless of what you paid. Perhaps it depends. To be clarified. The basis at which you acquired a lot is important.
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After acquisition, while you are still holding the lot, if the market value of that commodity goes up (or down), your potential return from disposing of the lot increases (or decreases). This is known as capital gain (or loss) (we'll just call it "capital gain"). At this stage, the gain is only "on paper", so it is called unrealised capital gain (URG). This is not considered revenue, or taxable.
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It's common to be holding multiple lots, perhaps many, even in a single account. Eg, say you buy a small amount of some stock or cryptocurrency each week. Each purchase adds a new lot to your assets. We'll call this a multi-lot balance, or balance.
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URG is calculated for a lot at a certain point in time. Likewise for a multi-lot balance.
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realised capital gain
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lot withdrawal strategies
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specific identification
Capital gains in hledger
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postings can have multiple commodities and multiple prices; each of these parts is a deposit or withdrawal to the account
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-- | Given a list of amounts all in the same commodity, interprets them -- as a sequence of lot deposits (the positive amounts) and withdrawals -- (the negative amounts), and applies them in order using the FIFO -- strategy for withdrawals, then returns the resulting lot balance (as -- another, shorter, list of amounts). sumLots :: [Amount] -> [Amount]
Ease of getting started
What could make getting started substantially easier ?
- Official CI-generated binaries for all major platforms
- Builtin access to docs in web format
Web docs
Provide the embedded user manuals as HTML also. Eg:
- hledger help --html # temporary static html files
- hledger help --web # serve from local hledger-web instance if installed
- hledger help --site # on hledger.org
- hledger-ui ? h/w/s # same as above
- hledger-web -> help # served from hledger-web
Config file
Name: hledger.conf (and possibly ~/.hledger.conf as well).
- easy to say and spell
- good highlighting support in editors
Format: toml/ini-ish format, but customised for our needs (if necessary).
Example:
# hledger.conf
[defaults]
# Set options/arguments to be always used with hledger commands.
# Each line is: HLEDGERCMD ARGS, or: hledger ARGS
hledger -f hledger.journal
bal -M --flat -b lastmonth
ui --watch
web -V
help --html
[commands]
# Define aliases for custom hledger commands.
# Each line is: CMDALIAS = HLEDGERCMD ARGS
assets = bal -M ^assets\b
liab = bal -M ^liabilities\b
# Or use colon, like make ?
bs2: bs --no-total date:thisyear
# Or just whitespace, like hledger csv rules ?
smui ui ^sm\b
# Allow arbitrary shell commands ?
2019: hledger -f 2019.journal
jstatus: git status -sb -- *.journal
# Allow multi-command shell scripts, with optional help string ?
bsis:
"Show monthly balance sheet and income statement"
hledger bs -M
echo
hledger is -M
echo
Loaded:
- at startup and ideally:
- hledger-web: on each page load if changed, like journals
- hledger-ui --watch: on change, like journals
Location:
Search a number of locations in order. Values from multiple files are combined, with later files taking precedence.
User config file: should it be "modern" ~/.config/hledger.conf or "old/simple" ~/.hledger.conf ? One or the other may be preferred/easier/more portable. If we support both, should it be one or the other, or both ?
Parent directory config files: we'd probably like to recognise config files in parent directories. How far up should we look - to the root dir ? to the user's home dir ? and if not under the user's home dir, don't look up at all ? to the nearest VCS working directory root ?
This would be the simplest comprehensive scheme: use all of
- ~/.config/hledger.conf
- ~/.hledger.conf
- hledger.conf in all directories from / down to the current directory
Eg: running hledger in /home/simon/project/finance would combine any of the following which exist:
- ~/.config/hledger.conf
- ~/.hledger.conf
- /hledger.conf
- /home/hledger.conf
- /home/simon/hledger.conf
- /home/simon/project/hledger.conf
- /home/simon/project/finance/hledger.conf
1353-related upgrade notes
Cf #1353
User-visible changes when going from 1.20.4 to master:
-B/--cost |
Now a primary flag. |
--value=cost |
Now an alias for -B/--cost, and deprecated. |
--value=cost,COMM |
No longer supported, suggests -B --value=X,COMM. |
--value=end |
With --change, shows change of end values instead of end value of change.--value=then approximates and hopefully is preferable to the old behaviour. |
Meaning of the cost/valuation short flags in master:
| Short flag | Equivalent to |
|---|---|
-B |
--cost |
-V |
--value=then (soon) |
-X/--exchange COMM |
--value=then,COMM (soon) |
Valuation examples
Minimal example for testing some valuation behaviours discussed in #1353. See Balance report valuation above.
; every ~15 days: one A is purchased, and A's market price in B increases.
2020-01-01
(a) 1 A
2020-01-15
(a) 1 A
2020-02-01
(a) 1 A
2020-02-15
(a) 1 A
P 2020-01-01 A 1 B
P 2020-01-15 A 2 B
P 2020-02-01 A 3 B
P 2020-02-15 A 4 B
Old balance --change --value=end behaviour: shows period-end value of period's balance change:
$ hledger-1.20.4 bal -M --value=end # --change is the default
Balance changes in 2020-01-01..2020-02-29, valued at period ends:
|| Jan Feb
===++==========
a || 4 B 8 B
---++----------
|| 4 B 8 B
New balance --change --value=end behaviour in master: shows change between period-end-valued period-end balances:
$ hledger-master bal -M --value=end
Period-end value changes in 2020-01-01..2020-02-29:
|| Jan Feb
===++===========
a || 4 B 12 B
---++-----------
|| 4 B 12 B
balance --value=then is also supported in master: shows sum of postings' then-values in each period:
$ hledger-master bal -M --value=then
Balance changes in 2020-01-01..2020-02-29, valued at posting date:
|| Jan Feb
===++==========
a || 3 B 7 B
---++----------
|| 3 B 7 B