How do I enter a foreign amount in an investment account?

JDBreeze1@aol.com

I'm using Quicken 2018 Premier and I have multi-currency support turned on.

I'm able to enter a transaction in a foreign currency in my accounts except for one investment account that I have.  In that account, if I try to use the Currency List, it cancels out of the field so that it doesn't convert the amount I entered.  If enter the amount and then hit the shortcut key, nothing happens.

Is there a bug somewhere or is there something I can check to make this work in this account?  Like I said, I have multi-currency turned on.  This account has been around since before I enabled multi-currency, but that's the case for almost all of my accounts and I can enter foreign amounts in all of them (including another investment account) except for this one.

Sherlock

I suggest you edit your GetSatisfaction profile so you don't have your email address as your real name or nickname to limit the spam you receive.

UKR

Is this investment account a regular investment account or a retirement account?

In regular investment accounts you can have a "linked Cash/Checking account" associated with the investment account register. That linked account register would allow you to enter foreign currency transactions same as with any other banking account. I do not know of a way to enter foreign currency cash, credit or check transactions directly in the investment account register.

If you would like to add this linked Cash/Checking account to your Quicken data file please do this:

• Create a backup of your Quicken data file. If something goes wrong during the next step, you can restore your data file from the backup

• Go into Edit Account Details for the investment account.
  On the General tab look for "Show Cash in a checking account".
  Click the "Yes" radio button.
  Sit back and let Quicken create the new account register. It will be named like your brokerage account, with "(Cash)" as a suffix and appear in the Account Bar together with your other checking accounts.

JDBreeze1@aol.com

UKR said:

Is this investment account a regular investment account or a retirement account?

In regular investment accounts you can have a "linked Cash/Checking account" associated with the investment account register. That linked account register would allow you to enter foreign currency transactions same as with any other banking account. I do not know of a way to enter foreign currency cash, credit or check transactions directly in the investment account register.

If you would like to add this linked Cash/Checking account to your Quicken data file please do this:

• Create a backup of your Quicken data file. If something goes wrong during the next step, you can restore your data file from the backup

• Go into Edit Account Details for the investment account.
  On the General tab look for "Show Cash in a checking account".
  Click the "Yes" radio button.
  Sit back and let Quicken create the new account register. It will be named like your brokerage account, with "(Cash)" as a suffix and appear in the Account Bar together with your other checking accounts.

Thanks, I tried adding in the cash account like you said and it created fine.  My dividend transaction was already in there, so I went to edit it to the foreign currency amount.  Quicken popped up a box that said "you should make this change from the investment account to not lose detail".  It only had an OK button so I couldn't just ignore that.  I can enter the foreign amount in the new cash account but not in the investment account itself.  Is it possible to add a second cash account linked to the investment account?

UKR

OK, I was mistaken. I was thinking about you trying to enter Cash transactions, e.g., credit card charges, in a foreign currency. That would be easy to do in a linked Cash account.

AFAIK, Quicken does not support multiple currencies in investment accounts.
Some brokerages allow trading (and therefore dividends) in foreign currencies, but Quicken hasn't implemented that yet for investment accounts.
Until they do, you need to record any foreign currency securities transactions in US-$ or you need to set up and manually track separate investment accounts, one for each foreign currency you use.

NotACPA

UKR said:

OK, I was mistaken. I was thinking about you trying to enter Cash transactions, e.g., credit card charges, in a foreign currency. That would be easy to do in a linked Cash account.

AFAIK, Quicken does not support multiple currencies in investment accounts.
Some brokerages allow trading (and therefore dividends) in foreign currencies, but Quicken hasn't implemented that yet for investment accounts.
Until they do, you need to record any foreign currency securities transactions in US-$ or you need to set up and manually track separate investment accounts, one for each foreign currency you use.

I'm not so sure about that being easy in a Linked Cash Account ... since an LCA is only an extension of the investment account ... and any account in Q can only have a single currency associated with it.

UKR

UKR said:

OK, I was mistaken. I was thinking about you trying to enter Cash transactions, e.g., credit card charges, in a foreign currency. That would be easy to do in a linked Cash account.

AFAIK, Quicken does not support multiple currencies in investment accounts.
Some brokerages allow trading (and therefore dividends) in foreign currencies, but Quicken hasn't implemented that yet for investment accounts.
Until they do, you need to record any foreign currency securities transactions in US-$ or you need to set up and manually track separate investment accounts, one for each foreign currency you use.

A linked Cash account is just like any bank checking account when it comes to entering banking transactions.
Here's what I was thinking of when answering:
Lets assume a VISA credit / debit card is linked to your brokerage account and therefore to this linked Cash/checking account. Account currency is $.
If you travel abroad and make a credit card charge in a foreign currency, e.g., €, it will eventually be charged to your account converted to $.
To enter a foreign currency transaction for the very first time, first set up a shortcut letter for the Euro currency in the Currency List. Edit the Euro Currency entry and make "E" the shortcut letter. Save the change.
From now on, to enter a € transaction: In the Amount or Charge field simply type the currency amount followed by "E", e.g. 50.31E
As soon as you type the "E", the Amount field will change to the converted $ amount, e.g. 59.28 (based on current exchange rate stored in Currency List) and € 50.31 will appear in the Memo field.
Finish filling out the transaction and save.
Eventually you will have to edit the transaction and, due to exchange rate differences, enter the $ amount that the bank really charged to your account.