Buy Bonds does not show value

chasfm11 .

Quicken for Windows, 2017, Version R15.15 Build 26.1.15.15
Brokerage house downloaded a bond purchase today - my first in Quicken
Quicken recognized the downloaded transaction as "Bonds Bought"

Number of shares and price per share are correct.  Total purchase price is correct.    Quicken does not show the value of the bonds   Holdings tab for that account shows a value of zero for the bonds.   Affects value of the account and net worth.

chasfm11 .

Either I have not provided enough information for a response or there is no interest in this problem.  It is unclear if this is a Windows problem that is similar to the one for the Mac version of Quicken in the past.    While I admit that it is far from a priority item, it remains one to me.  I guess the fix will be for me to change the transaction to be something that it is not in order to have Quicken maintain the proper account balance. 

Rocket J Squirrel

chasfm11 . said:

Either I have not provided enough information for a response or there is no interest in this problem.  It is unclear if this is a Windows problem that is similar to the one for the Mac version of Quicken in the past.    While I admit that it is far from a priority item, it remains one to me.  I guess the fix will be for me to change the transaction to be something that it is not in order to have Quicken maintain the proper account balance. 

I can't reproduce your problem. My bonds all show their values. Perhaps we could help if you post some screen shots illustrating the problem. Conceal sensitive personal information.

q_lurker

I think the first thing to check is the Price History information for the specific security (Update from the Security Detail view).  Make sure the purchase price or similar is shown for the date of purchase and that for the latest date applicable a non-zero value is shown.  (My bonds are usually priced at the end-of-month from my brokerage information, FWIW.) 

chasfm11 .

Thanks for your inputs.  I can do screen shots but am not sure how to really exclude the amounts and I don't want those on a public forum.  I'll check the history.  That might be the problem

chasfm11 .

The problem resolved itself this morning. I had connected with the brokerage house a couple of times yesterday and the value remained zero.  I assume that value is coming from Quicken, not my brokerage.  Perhaps the software updates prices only overnight.  That would be a good thing to know going forward.  Anyway, the value is correct this morning and I'm satisfied.  Thanks again for those who responded.  I think the analysis that price history is involved is spot on.

q_lurker

chasfm11 . said:

The problem resolved itself this morning. I had connected with the brokerage house a couple of times yesterday and the value remained zero.  I assume that value is coming from Quicken, not my brokerage.  Perhaps the software updates prices only overnight.  That would be a good thing to know going forward.  Anyway, the value is correct this morning and I'm satisfied.  Thanks again for those who responded.  I think the analysis that price history is involved is spot on.

To the best of my knowledge, the Quicken servers (Download Quotes, Download Historical prices) do not include bond prices.  All bond prices come only via brokerage download information.  

mshiggins

chasfm11 . said:

The problem resolved itself this morning. I had connected with the brokerage house a couple of times yesterday and the value remained zero.  I assume that value is coming from Quicken, not my brokerage.  Perhaps the software updates prices only overnight.  That would be a good thing to know going forward.  Anyway, the value is correct this morning and I'm satisfied.  Thanks again for those who responded.  I think the analysis that price history is involved is spot on.

From C. D. Bales:


"Perhaps the software updates prices only overnight."


Quicken's price servers will not get bond prices - ever.


You only get bond prices when:

_ You download from the financial institution where the bonds are held

_ You import a QIF or CSV file that contains bond prices

_ You manually enter bond prices


Every time you download from the financial institution where the bonds are held, you should get the most current bond price the financial institution has available.


I think you should do as q.lurker suggested: look at your Quicken price history for the bond(s) in question; likely there is a zero price in there.

chasfm11 .

Thanks for that information.  I'm puzzled.  I downloaded from my brokerage house three times while the bond value was still zero.   The next morning, I downloaded again the the bond value was there. As I said in my OP, this is my first bond purchase with this brokerage house so I have no history with them on this kind of an investment.    So the only logical explanation is that the brokerage house did not send the price information with the first three Quicken downloads and it look some sort of overnight processing by them to include it.    Is there some place in Quicken documentation that explains this because I would have contacted them had I known it.  I did a search before posting.

q_lurker

chasfm11 . said:

Thanks for that information.  I'm puzzled.  I downloaded from my brokerage house three times while the bond value was still zero.   The next morning, I downloaded again the the bond value was there. As I said in my OP, this is my first bond purchase with this brokerage house so I have no history with them on this kind of an investment.    So the only logical explanation is that the brokerage house did not send the price information with the first three Quicken downloads and it look some sort of overnight processing by them to include it.    Is there some place in Quicken documentation that explains this because I would have contacted them had I known it.  I did a search before posting.

 Is there some place in Quicken documentation that explains this because I would have contacted them had I known it.  

That explains bond prices not coming through Quicken's download quotes?  In just now poking through Quicken's help information and some online information, I was surprised not to see that stated.  The closest comment I saw was when they indicated a security needed to valid ticker symbol to get a quote downloaded.  Bonds don't have tickers, so that means no prices.  I would like to see such a concept more clearly stated.  

So my answer to your question would actually be:  No, there is not some place in the Quicken documentation that explains that.  (it is possible, maybe probable, that the Official Guide to Quicken books do explain that.  I have never looked that closely at any of them.)

Quicken Sarah

chasfm11 . said:

Thanks for that information.  I'm puzzled.  I downloaded from my brokerage house three times while the bond value was still zero.   The next morning, I downloaded again the the bond value was there. As I said in my OP, this is my first bond purchase with this brokerage house so I have no history with them on this kind of an investment.    So the only logical explanation is that the brokerage house did not send the price information with the first three Quicken downloads and it look some sort of overnight processing by them to include it.    Is there some place in Quicken documentation that explains this because I would have contacted them had I known it.  I did a search before posting.

Hi @q.lurker & @chasfm11,

I did a thorough search through the available documentation and found an older article that discussed why bond prices do not update like quotes but the article was slightly out of date and has been archived, I apologize.

I submitted a request for the article to be updated and re-posted so this information is available going forward.

Thank you,

Sarah