401K and IRAs added to long-standing Quicken accounts which include payroll deductions

Unknown

Earlier this year, I upgraded to Quicken 2017 for Mac (v.4.6.7). In a long-ago previous version, I used to enter each of my 401K and IRA transactions manually so that I always had a complete picture for net worth reports. An interim, bare-bones Quicken version did not allow me to do that. So I purchased the 2017 version. Before I proceed, I want to make sure that I don't mess up the data I have collected for years on investments. How does it work if you have at least 15 years worth of paycheck splits that reflect contributions to a 401K (both employee and company matching) when you download transactions from a financial institution? I've only download transactions for one investment and it effectively doubles what is actually there in market value. I certainly don't want to adjust 15 years worth of paycheck splits but want an accurate view of net worth and downloading transactions would be convenient. Thanks.

John_in_NC

Was it Quicken Essentials that you mean by being a "bare bones" version? Answering this will help how we proceed.

Also, are you currently using 2017? You mentioned upgrading, but I don't know if that is the current version you are using.

Unknown

In most cases, downloading transactions from a financial institution typically includes 30-90 days worth of transactions.  Some FI's allow for more...some less.

Just in case, my recommendation would be to convert your data file to Quicken Mac 2017...then backup that data file.

Then setup your financial institutions for downloads...and download.

If things get messed up terribly, then restore the backup you created earlier. 

Concordman

It would be important to know what version of Quicken you were using to enter all these manual investment transactions.

Unknown

John in NC said:

Was it Quicken Essentials that you mean by being a "bare bones" version? Answering this will help how we proceed.

Also, are you currently using 2017? You mentioned upgrading, but I don't know if that is the current version you are using.

Yes, it was Quicken Essentials. New program is Quicken 2017 for Mac version 4.6.7. Thanks.

Unknown

RickO said:

If I understand correctly, the years of paycheck splits will result in a huge cash balance in the account. Since the download of investment transactions will likely cover at most 90 days, you will need to create 1 large Buy transaction using that coverts the excess cash balance to shares (for each security). The price calculated will become the average cost basis for those shares.

If you don't create the Buy transaction, Quicken will probably create a placeholder transaction to make the share balance reach what the brokerage thinks you have. But this placeholder will not "use up" the cash balance. That's when the value of the account would then show double. Once you create the Buy transaction and all the shares are accounted for, the placeholder should disappear. If not, you can delete it manually.

Placeholder transactions are at the start of the register (usually), in light gray, and have the word "placeholder" in the memo.

Thanks. I will study on what you say here and proceed with caution. I'll be honest, I was a big, big fan of the old Quicken. I kept it from mid-90's to downloading Quicken Essentials. I was never happy with that and used paper statements to make separate schedules of net worth. Was hoping that a full-featured upgrade would make this seamless but I am not happy. There are some other user issues which I dislike as well, things I believe were much simpler in early versions. But I would like to make it work since I have so many years of data involved. Thanks.

Unknown

Concordman said:

It would be important to know what version of Quicken you were using to enter all these manual investment transactions.

Sorry, don't know. The discs are long since gone.

Unknown

Concordman said:

It would be important to know what version of Quicken you were using to enter all these manual investment transactions.

Click on "Quicken" > About Quicken 

to determine your version.

Unknown

Concordman said:

It would be important to know what version of Quicken you were using to enter all these manual investment transactions.

I have twice stated that the current version is 4.6.7--the one I am using now in Quicken 2017.  I believe Concordman was asking me what version of Quicken from at least 15 years ago I was using to enter transactions manually. I don't know the version, long since gone. Unless I'm missing something?