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Backtesting a Fund Portfolio

Does CI have a download, or could you recommend a download, for backtesting mutual fund portfolios? What I would like to do is put together a few mutual fund portfolios of equities and bonds and run them through performance tests for different time periods, going back, say, 15 to 20 years. Any help you could give would be greatly appreciated.

—D.J.

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The only tool that we are aware of is Morningstar’s Principia Hypotheticals. Like all Principia products, this software program is geared toward advisors. To test a mutual fund portfolio, you need a subscription to Principia Mutual Funds ($615 per year for monthly updates) plus the Hypotheticals module ($295 per year).

Investors can use the Hypotheticals module to test a wide range of investment scenarios. Illustrations can be generated for individual securities or for entire portfolios. The module shows how a portfolio would have performed historically, taking into account taxes, fees, and specific investment amounts and schedules.

The Hypotheticals module features three types of illustrations:

• Individual Holdings: Separate illustrations for each security. For example, if you selected five securities, you’ll get five separate reports.

• Portfolio: An illustration that combines all of your securities into a single report, to illustrate how a selected set of investments would have performed together as a portfolio.

• Comparison: Compare securities against other securities, securities against indexes, or indexes against other indexes, in one report. Additional information for the Hypotheticals module and Principia can be found on the Morningstar Advisor Web site (advisor.morningstar.com) or by calling their sales department at (800) 735-0700.