One of the things I like about Fidelity Investments is the main “All Accounts” SUMMARY page. You can move windows around using the “Customize” feature and you can also see important Summary high-level information about your accounts. One section on the SUMMARY page is called “Your Portfolio Events.”

There are three views worth noting. The first is the default “Summary of Events” view. This view shows you positions where earnings will soon be announced (including AAPL, ETN) and the dividend ex-dates that are for today (ETN, TXN) or the near future. The third is the “Equity Summary Score Change.” I use the first two, but generally disregard the changes in the equity scores because I am investing for the long term and don’t care what the current “experts” think about each investment. Investments can go in and out of favor in the short term, and that doesn’t really help me.

However, the earnings dates and ex-dividend dates can prove helpful. For earnings, it pays to know if your investment plans to report earnings so that you are not stunned if it goes up or down quickly in value. This is just for awareness. But it might also create a buying opportunity if the quarterly report spooks investors.

For the ex-dividend date, it helps to know when that is. You want to be careful not to sell a position close to that date and risk losing the dividend you have been waiting for. If the investment was worth holding four days ago, then don’t sell it earlier than you need to sell.

You can also see the 52-Week Highs and 52-Week Lows for your positions. Again, because I am investing for the long haul, that information rarely helps me.