401 account sells shares to cover fee

Mark256

My 401 retirement account charges me a fee and sells portions of my mutual funds to cover it. They call it a sale, but I am not really receiving proceeds. If I put a zero in sale amount Quicken wont let me continue.

J_Mike

Enter the sale(s) - this generates a cash balance to cover the fees.
Enter a Miscellaneous Expense transaction for the fee charged. Use a category of your choice; e.g., Acct Fee.
The fee charge offsets the sale(s) realization.

Mark256

JM, thanks for answering.  From what you are saying I will record cash in with the sale , then a misc expense.  But if the net effect is $0 how do I record the fact that I have an actual outflow of resources?  This is a fee and I want to keep track of what this company is charging me.

NotACPA

Mark said:

JM, thanks for answering.  From what you are saying I will record cash in with the sale , then a misc expense.  But if the net effect is $0 how do I record the fact that I have an actual outflow of resources?  This is a fee and I want to keep track of what this company is charging me.

That's what the MiscExp transaction does ... just use a category of your choosing for "401 Fees".

Mark256

Mark said:

JM, thanks for answering.  From what you are saying I will record cash in with the sale , then a misc expense.  But if the net effect is $0 how do I record the fact that I have an actual outflow of resources?  This is a fee and I want to keep track of what this company is charging me.

What i am saying is that the net effect of a + and a - is 0.  Shouldn't the balance of the account be decreased by this event?  Maybe I am missing something.  Thanks for your patient help.

Jim_Harman

Mark said:

JM, thanks for answering.  From what you are saying I will record cash in with the sale , then a misc expense.  But if the net effect is $0 how do I record the fact that I have an actual outflow of resources?  This is a fee and I want to keep track of what this company is charging me.

The account balance is decreased because you have fewer shares and the same amount of cash after the pair of transactions.

Rich_M

Mark said:

JM, thanks for answering.  From what you are saying I will record cash in with the sale , then a misc expense.  But if the net effect is $0 how do I record the fact that I have an actual outflow of resources?  This is a fee and I want to keep track of what this company is charging me.

Mark:  Yes, it should, the Miscellaneous Expense transaction should have reduced your account balance by the fee amount, if not, something may not have been entered correctly.

Jim_Harman

Mark said:

JM, thanks for answering.  From what you are saying I will record cash in with the sale , then a misc expense.  But if the net effect is $0 how do I record the fact that I have an actual outflow of resources?  This is a fee and I want to keep track of what this company is charging me.

To see the account balance you should be looking at the Total Market Value at the bottom of the Transaction list (register), not the cash balance. The Total Market Value is the Securities Value plus the cash balance.