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Add a Custom Investment

Step-by-step guide to manually add a Custom Investment holding in Navexa and enter trades, income and price updates for unsupported assets.

Updated over a week ago

Before you start

Custom Investments are for assets that Navexa does not natively support with a live data/price feed.

They work best for assets that follow this pattern:

  • You buy a quantity at a price

  • You may receive income from it

  • You may update its value from time to time

  • You may sell it or let it mature later

For a full explanation of what fits, see What is a Custom Investment in Navexa?

There are two ways to add them:

  • Manually using this form

  • Importing a spreadsheet template

You cannot create Custom Investments from broker emails, contract notes or bank feeds. Every trade, income entry and price update is entered by you.

What you can use this for

Some common examples:

  • Investment property

  • Corporate or OTC bonds

  • Private company shares or unlisted equity

  • Art and collectibles

  • Managed accounts or app based portfolios where you only have statements or CSVs

If you are importing from a spreadsheet for property, bonds, art or private shares, see Importing Custom Investments from a Spreadsheet.

Step 1 - Open Add Holdings

From your Portfolio or Overview screen, click Add Holdings.

Then Add Trade Data Manually

Step 2 - Choose Custom Investment

Click Custom Investment on the holding type screen.

This opens the Add Custom Investment form.

Step 3 - Enter investment details

Fill in the top fields:

  • Investment Name
    A name you will recognise in the holdings list.
    Examples:

    • 120 Collins St, Melbourne

    • Corporate Bond 2026

    • Private Co Shares - Series A

  • Currency Code
    The currency you want to report this asset in (for example AUD or USD).

These two fields define the instrument itself.

Step 4 - Enter the first trade

You now tell Navexa how much of this asset you have and what you paid.

Fill in:

Trade type

For the first entry, there are two trade types:

  • Buy
    Use this when you are entering the actual purchase trade on its real trade date.
    This is the normal choice if you have the contract or statement.

  • Opening Balance
    Use this when you already held the asset before using Navexa and you just want to start from a single starting position.
    For example, you have owned a property for years and want to bring it in at a chosen date and value.
    It behaves like a Buy for quantity and cost base, but is labelled as an opening position in your history.

Trade Date
The date you bought the asset or the effective date of your opening balance.

Quantity
How many units you are recording.
​

Examples:

  • Property or a single artwork: 1

  • Bonds: face value (for example 50000)

  • Private shares: number of shares (for example 10000)

Price
The price per unit in the selected currency.
​

Examples:

  • Property: purchase price if Quantity is 1 (for example 850000)

  • Bonds: price per 1 of face value (clean or dirty price, depending on your method)

  • Shares: price per share (for example 2.50)

Brokerage Cost - Optional
Any costs you want included in the cost base for this entry, such as stamp duty, legal fees, buyer premium or brokerage.

Broker Name - Optional
A label for where or how you hold this asset, for example Ord Minnett, Direct or Spaceship.
​

This is for filtering and reporting only. It does not connect to a broker.

As you type Quantity, Price and Brokerage Cost, the Total at the bottom shows the full amount for this trade or opening balance.

Step 5 - Add notes and save

Use Notes - Optional for anything you want to remember or prove later, for example:

  • Contract number

  • Source of valuation

  • Short description of the asset

Check the Total looks right against your contract or statement, then click Add Investment.

Navexa creates the Custom Investment holding and records this first trade.

Step 6 - Add more trades over time

If you buy more units or sell part or all of the asset later:

  1. Open the Custom Investment holding (120 Collins St, Melbourne)

  2. Click Add Trade

  3. Enter the new Trade type, Trade Date, Quantity, Price, Brokerage Cost and Broker Name if needed

  4. Save

Navexa updates your cost base, proceeds and capital gain or loss using the full trade history.

Step 7 - Record income (optional)

If the asset produces income, you can record it so it appears in your income reports.

Examples:

  • Rent from property

  • Bond coupons or interest

  • Dividends from private company shares

  • Distributions from a managed account

To add income:

  1. Open the Custom Investment holding (120 Collins St, Melbourne)

  2. Go to the Income tab

  3. Next to Dividends click the + Add button

    Even though the screen is called Add Dividend, you can use it to record any income for a Custom Investment, for example:

    • Rent on a property

    • Bond coupons or interest

    • Distributions from a managed account

    • Dividends from private company shares

  4. When you click Add Dividend / Distribution on the holding, you will see this form.

Fields to fill

Trust Income

  • Set to No for most Custom Investments such as property, bonds, art or simple company dividends.

  • Set to Yes only if the income is from a trust distribution.

Ex dividend date
For non-listed assets, treat this as the date the income is earned.

  • For rent or interest, you can use the same date as the paid date to keep things simple.

Paid date
The date the cash hits your bank account.

Franked amount / Franking credits

  • Use these only for franked dividends from Australian companies.

  • For property, bond coupons, rent and similar, leave both as 0.00.

Unfranked amount

  • For most Custom Investments, put the full cash income here.

    • Rent received

    • Bond coupon cash

    • Unfranked dividends

  • This is the main field to use when there is no franking.

Additional options

Click Additional Fields if needed.

  • Dividend Reinvested
    Usually leave unticked for Custom Investments.
    Only use this if the income is being reinvested into more units of the same investment.

  • Exclude from Tax
    Tick this only if you want this entry to be ignored in tax reports, for example an internal transfer that you still want visible in the history.

Notes
Optional. Add anything helpful such as:

  • “Rent for April 2025”

  • “Coupon Q1 2026”

  • Reference numbers or statement notes

Upload File
Optional. Attach a statement, rental summary or coupon schedule if you want the document stored with the entry.

Net Payment and Gross Payment
These are calculated automatically from the amounts you enter above. You do not need to type in these fields.

When you are done, click Add Dividend to save the income entry to your Custom Investment.

Step 8 - Update the price (optional)

Custom Investments do not have a live price feed. You update the valuation as needed.

Typical reasons:

  • A new property valuation

  • A new round price for private shares

  • A revised clean price for a bond

  • An updated appraisal for art

To update the price:

  1. Open the Custom Investment holding

  2. Click Prices tab, then the +Add button

  3. Enter the new price per unit and date

  4. Add a note such as Bank valuation 30/06/2025

  5. Click Add Price

Navexa uses this price from that date forward when calculating the holding value and performance.

Tips

  • Use clear Investment Names so you can recognise the holding in reports.

  • Put purchase costs in Brokerage Cost so your cost base is correct.

  • Use Notes for contract totals, references and valuation sources.

  • The more trades, income entries and price updates you record, the better your performance and tax data will be.

Related Articles
Adding Your First Investments
Creating a Taxable Income Report
Key Concepts: Portfolio, Holding and Trade
Importing Custom Investments from a Spreadsheet (property, bonds, art & more)
What is a Custom Investment in Navexa?
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