Investment Portfolio Market Value for Canadian version

Unknown

My Portfolio is in Canadian $. Most of my investments are Canadian stocks from Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

If I purchase stocks on NASDAQ, let say 100 share of AAPL at $175 USD. The purchase will cost me $17500 X 1.2397 (Today's Exchange rate) = $21694.75 CAD.
In the Investment Portfolio, the "Cost Basis" will show $21694.75.
If I "Update Quotes", the "Market Value" will show $17500 and the "Gain/Loss" will show -(4194.75.) This result is wrong and affect the overall performance of my Portfolio.

For accounts in CAD, the "Update Quote" should look at the "Exchange" field and if it is "U.S. Stocks", multiply the actual quote by the daily Exchange Rate before updating the "Quote Price" and "Market Value" results.

If there is another way to manage this situation, please let me know.

Arctic Hare

@André: I am a Canadian SuperUser and I have exchange traded investments denominated in CAD and USD. I don't seem to have the problem you are having.

I'm not sure I fully understand how you have set up your accounts in Quicken. Maybe it will help if I describe my approach? I invest through RBC Direct Investing. My Direct Investing RRSP, for example, has both a CAD denominated side and a USD denominated side (i.e. one account number, but separate handling of CAD and USD). My CAD denominated investments and cash are kept "separate" from the USD denominated investments and cash. I buy CAD denominated/traded funds on the CAD "side" of the account and USD denominated/traded funds on the USD "side" of the account. The CAD and USD "sides" appear as one account on my DI statement.

In Quicken, I've set up one Quicken Account/Register denominated in CAD for the CAD side of my DI RRSP; I've set up a second Quicken Account/Register denominated USD for the USD side of my DI RRSP. Using this method, Quicken handles the exchange rates automatically and correctly. My cost basis and valuations are maintained correctly. If I were to convert cash between CAD and USD, I would use a transfer in Quicken.

Does this explanation help?

Unknown

@Artic Hare : Thank you for the explanation. It is quite interesting. I am also with RBC Direct Investing and I wasn't aware that I could have both USD and CAD cash in the same account and manage the US stock purchase in USD separately. Today, I have one account managed in CAD and when I purchase a US stock, DI calculate the conversion rate and complete the transaction in CAD.

However, I am not an expert in Quicken but, if I create an Account/Register in USD and all my other accounts (Checking, Saving, Investment) are in CAD, is there a way to have my overall "Net Worth", including the USD account,  in CAD ?
Will the overall performance of my accounts be affected by the fact that one account is in USD instead of CAD ?

Thanks again for your help.

Arctic Hare

André said:

@Artic Hare : Thank you for the explanation. It is quite interesting. I am also with RBC Direct Investing and I wasn't aware that I could have both USD and CAD cash in the same account and manage the US stock purchase in USD separately. Today, I have one account managed in CAD and when I purchase a US stock, DI calculate the conversion rate and complete the transaction in CAD.

However, I am not an expert in Quicken but, if I create an Account/Register in USD and all my other accounts (Checking, Saving, Investment) are in CAD, is there a way to have my overall "Net Worth", including the USD account,  in CAD ?
Will the overall performance of my accounts be affected by the fact that one account is in USD instead of CAD ?

Thanks again for your help.

@André: Quicken will convert the USD denominated account/securities into CAD when doing the net worth calculation. It works seamlessly. My net worth is in CAD and it includes my various USD denominated accounts. Until 2018, this was a feature that was present in the Canadian version of Q, but not in the US version. I think it was introduced to the US version this year.

I recommend that you consider using the USD side of the DI account. It is more efficient from a tax perspective to hold the USD investments in USD (because of withholding tax). It sounds like you are buying USD denominated investments, but it sounds like you are letting RBC DI do the cash F/X for you, which is inefficient from a F/X rate perspective. The most efficient way of doing the F/X conversion for the cash (e.g. from CAD to USD) is to use Norbert's Gambit. If you aren't familiar with Norbert's Gambit, then Google it.

RBC DI handles Norbert's Gambit very well. Use NG for the cash F/X and then use the respective currency to fund the transaction. For example, use USD cash to buy USD securities and CAD cash to buy Canadian securities. Using this approach, you'll see both USD cash and CAD cash in the SAME RBC DI account.

This all works very well... and is very efficient from F/X cost and tax perspectives.

If you have questions on Norbert's Gambit after you Google it and read about, I might be able to help.

Here's a link to get you started -->
 https://www.pwlcapital.com/en/Advisor/Toronto/Toronto-Team/Blog/Justin-Bender/January-2017/Norbert-s-Gambit-at-RBC-Direct-Investing

You might have to call RBC DI to get the USD cash feature turned on. I did that so long ago, I don't recall whether it required special setup.

Unknown

André said:

@Artic Hare : Thank you for the explanation. It is quite interesting. I am also with RBC Direct Investing and I wasn't aware that I could have both USD and CAD cash in the same account and manage the US stock purchase in USD separately. Today, I have one account managed in CAD and when I purchase a US stock, DI calculate the conversion rate and complete the transaction in CAD.

However, I am not an expert in Quicken but, if I create an Account/Register in USD and all my other accounts (Checking, Saving, Investment) are in CAD, is there a way to have my overall "Net Worth", including the USD account,  in CAD ?
Will the overall performance of my accounts be affected by the fact that one account is in USD instead of CAD ?

Thanks again for your help.

Wow, thank you for all that information. It is realy appreciated.