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ING Zelf op de Beurs portfolio tracker: benchmark your ING Zelf op de Beurs portfolio against the S&P 500

We convert the transaction list from ING Zelf op de Beurs into a complete history and measure it against an index in euros. ING runs self directed investing inside its Dutch online banking, so orders, dividends and transfers sit in overviews next to your payment account. What the bank shows is what you hold and what it is worth today; the return over your own period, and the comparison, come out of the exported rows.

What the file contains

The rows you need describe events rather than balances. An order row carries a date, a number of units, a price and the charge on that order. A dividend row carries the amount credited, and where tax was deducted it is usually a second row with a negative amount. Money moved from your payment account into the investment account appears as a transfer of its own.

What that gives is a chain instead of a picture. From the orders we build what you paid for each position, on average cost, with fees visible next to it. From the dividend rows we build the income you genuinely received after withholding. From the transfers we build the cash flow timeline, and that timeline is what an honest index comparison uses: the same amounts, on the same days, in a tracker rather than in your own selection.

How the import works for ING Zelf op de Beurs

ING Zelf op de Beurs goes through the column mapper. You point at the date, the type, the amount and the quantity column once, we save that mapping to your account, and later uploads from the same broker are read without a question.

We do not print a click path here, because menu names move between releases and a wrong one costs you more time than no one at all. Look for the transaction history or the account statement of your ING Zelf op de Beurs account and take the machine-readable version of it over the PDF.

One caution is specific to this brand. ING operates in more than one country, and the Dutch and German platforms produce different files with different headings, so instructions written for one are not instructions for the other. What belongs here is the Dutch overview with Dutch headings. Point the date, the description, the number of units, the amount and the currency at the right columns once; we propose a match from the headings first, and the version you confirm is stored for every later file from that account.

What to watch for with ING Zelf op de Beurs files

One brand, two platforms. ING in Germany is a separate entry with a German language export. If you have held accounts in both countries, export each of them and upload both files.

Transfers are not income. Money moved from your payment account into the investment account is a deposit into the portfolio. Counted as a gain it would flatter every percentage on the page.

Trackers that pay nothing out. A tracker which reinvests its income never produces a dividend row. Nothing is missing; the income sits inside the price, which is why total return describes such a holding better than a dividend total does.

Charges per order. The cost of an order is booked next to the order rather than inside the price. Kept separate, a year of trading costs becomes a figure you can look at instead of an invisible drag.

What you see after the upload

Your file becomes a verdict first: your time-weighted return next to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 over the same period, with your own deposits replayed into the index so both sides carry the same timing. Under it sit your positions with their cost basis, the dividends you received and the income your holdings are expected to pay, your allocation across positions and currencies, and a year report you can keep for your records.

With the ING history loaded, the allocation view is where most people find their first surprise, because a monthly order into the same tracker builds up faster than it feels while you are placing it.

You can look at all of that on the demo portfolio before you upload anything of your own. The first two weeks are free and no card is asked for.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same as ING in Germany? No. ING in Germany is a separate platform with a German export and German column names, and it has its own page here. If you have held accounts in both countries, export each and upload both files; they are merged into a single history, and the currency of each row is taken from the file rather than assumed.

How far back should the export reach? To your first order. The temptation is to take the current year because it downloads quickly, but every position you still hold traces back to a purchase, and a purchase outside the file cannot be used for anything. If the interface refuses to go back far enough in one step, take the history in blocks and upload them together.

Why is my return different from the percentage in the app? The percentage in a banking app is usually the change in value of what you hold right now. A time weighted return removes the effect of money going in and out, which is what makes a comparison with an index fair. Neither figure is wrong; they answer different questions, and we show the calculation and the rows behind it.

Do you need my banking credentials? No credentials of any kind, and no login is ever requested. The import is a file that you download and upload, so nothing here can sign in anywhere on your behalf. The consequence is that your numbers are as recent as your last export, and only a fresh one brings in the weeks since.