What you really need to know is how your investments have done in terms of percentage gain or loss, which will let you compare the performance of your individual holdings with one another or to a broad stock-market index. But to figure out the percentage loss, I had to do the math myself. Part of the problem may be that the brokers don't want to draw your attention to any losses, which explicit performance data could do. As long as they aren't hitting you over the head with the information, they have a better chance of holding on to the account. Additionally, you may have a hard time figuring out from your statement's portfolio details exactly whay you own.
Stocks are easy.
Cisco is Cisco. Microsoft is Microsoft. Most people know those ticker symbols by heart and have a basic idea of how those stocks are doing. But when your statement gets to mutual funds or things like unit investment trusts, you might feel like you need the Rosetta Stone to figure out what you own. Many statements won't include the ticker symbols for your funds.