401K Balance for Vanguard doesn't match online or other online tracking systems

Matthew Moran

I have no problem connecting to my Vanguard 401K for QM2018 account and recently I paid off to loans I had through my 401K however the Portfolio view still shows a negative cash (I assume the loans). I've actually deleted the account and tried to readd/download and the balance is the same. It is off by a fair amount in terms of dollars and percentage. I have no clue how to get it to fix itself?

John_in_NC

I don't think your loans are the cause of your issue. (I have never taken a loan against my 401k, but I know several people who do. And their cash balances haven't gone negative.) But, each financial institution can do things differently, and Vanguard always appears to have their own way of doing things, so they may be. :-(

I suggest you investigate a bit further to see where your discrepancies appear. Are the holdings (share balances and value) correct? What about the running balance in the transaction view? Does that yield clues as to where your balance went negative?

Since you deleted the account and reactive, then you likely will have placeholder transactions at the beginning of your account. (These will be in light gray and act as opening balance adjustments.) Examine those: they might shed some light on what is going on.

Since none of us know your particular situation, the above is about the best any of us can suggest. You might have to do a little digging to figure out what is going on. Good luck!