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Downloading investment transactions with multiple accounts

NCuser

We have multiple accounts (Rollover IRA, SIMPLE, 401K, Inherited IRA, personal) within Fidelity and Vanguard, some under my name, some under my husband's name and some joint. Ages ago I tried setting up for auto downloads and I got duplicates and items in the wrong account. It was a cluster so I ended up restoring to my back-up and stuck with manual entry.

This takes a huge amount of time and I have to believe I can do this automatically. Any tips for setting it up properly so I can download the transactions?

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Accepted answers

q_lurker

From the last time I setup Vanguard accounts ---

These accounts included both Vanguard Mutual Fund Accounts and Vanguard Brokerage accounts. Today there is more bias on their part for brokerage accounts and that may simplify the process somewhat.
As the Vanguard connection was made and accounts were offered, they were identified only by account number. Ergo, have a list handy to associate which account number you want linked to which account in Quicken.
If dealing with mutual fund accounts, I much prefer having multiple funds in one account rather than having a separate account for each mutual fund. Vanguard has historically done it either way. If your Quicken accounts are set up with multiple funds in one account, you'll want to make sure your Vanguard account are also set up that way. Vanguard has conventionally used a form of ffff-xxxxxxx for the account number where the ffff was a 4-digit fund number and the xxxxxxx was a multi-digit account number. I am saying that multi-digit account number should be the same where possible (commonly registered as his, hers, ours, my IRA, their IRA, etc. each with a unique account number.) If dealing only with brokerage accounts, that should be a moot point.

q_lurker

No, you will not have to change anything with account numbers. Note the account numbers at Vanguard and be prepared to link them directly to your existing Quicken accounts.

Jim_Harman

@NCuser,

At Vanguard you can give another person access to your accounts,either with trading authority or view-only. Both people must already have s Vanguard online account. The whole setup is done online. The person giving access starts the process and the receiver gets an email with a link to accept it.

Or, you can keep the access separate at Vanguard and just have Quicken log in with each person's credentials to access their accounts.

One documented wrinkle with Fidelity is if both spouses work for IBM, 401k downloads get confused because Fido uses IBM's master account number so Quicken tries to map them to the same account. This may be a problem for other companies and financial institutions as well if both spouses work for the same company..

All comments

Rocket J Squirrel

My wife and I have multiple accounts at Fidelity. The joint brokerage and my IRAs get downloaded under my Fidelity login. Her IRA gets downloaded under her Fidelity login. This works perfectly; no duplicates or items in the wrong account.

Fidelity downloaded data is not always 100% correct, but there's nothing Quicken can do about that. Sometimes transactions have to be hand-edited, as when Fidelity incorrectly reports a Capital Gains Distribution as a Dividend.

Can't help you with Vanguard.

NotACPA

My experience, and setup, with Fidelity is the same as that of @Rocket J Squirrel

Bob_L

I have no problems at Vanguard, though my setup is slightly different. Since all of our accounts are set up at Vanguard for online access by both of us, I download to quicken using the same online ID. (I would expect separate IDs would work, but I just don’t do it that way)

GeoffG

No issue with Fidelity nor Vanguard. Separate ID's for IRAs for both institutions. When setting up brokerage, you need to select one for updates and then "Ignore" for the other account.

q_lurker

From the last time I setup Vanguard accounts ---

These accounts included both Vanguard Mutual Fund Accounts and Vanguard Brokerage accounts. Today there is more bias on their part for brokerage accounts and that may simplify the process somewhat.
As the Vanguard connection was made and accounts were offered, they were identified only by account number. Ergo, have a list handy to associate which account number you want linked to which account in Quicken.
If dealing with mutual fund accounts, I much prefer having multiple funds in one account rather than having a separate account for each mutual fund. Vanguard has historically done it either way. If your Quicken accounts are set up with multiple funds in one account, you'll want to make sure your Vanguard account are also set up that way. Vanguard has conventionally used a form of ffff-xxxxxxx for the account number where the ffff was a 4-digit fund number and the xxxxxxx was a multi-digit account number. I am saying that multi-digit account number should be the same where possible (commonly registered as his, hers, ours, my IRA, their IRA, etc. each with a unique account number.) If dealing only with brokerage accounts, that should be a moot point.

Jim_Harman

Back up your data file before connecting, in case something goes wrong.

Go to Edit > Preferences > Downloaded transactions and make sure Automatically add to Investment transaction lists is NOT selected.

When you first download from an account you have been updating manually in Quicken, you will get a boatload of downloaded transactions, most if not all of which are duplicates of transactions you have already recorded.

Probably the easiest way to deal with these if Quicken already matches you online share balances is to delete them all.

Others may have further advice on getting the accounts in sync.

NCuser

Thanks for the comments and a little more detail and follow-up questions:

At Vanguard, my login gives me access to these accounts:

My Traditional IRA Brokerage account containing 2 mutual funds

My Inherited IRA Brokerage account containing 2 mutual funds

My Simple IRA with 2 mutual funds, with a fund- acct# for each

Our Joint Brokerage account with 3 mutual funds and 2 individual stocks.

My husband's login gives access to these accounts:

HisTraditional IRA Brokerage account containing 2 mutual funds

Our Joint Brokerage account listed above

In Quicken, I have each of the accounts listed set up as one account with multiple funds.

Fidelity only has my husband's accounts and one login, so hopefully easier:

His IRA with 2 mutual funds

His 401K with 4 mutual funds

BobL- How did you get access to all accounts with one ID? Are they all joint accounts?

GeoffG- Can you clarify what you meant by "When setting up brokerage, you need to select one for updates and then "Ignore" for the other account"? Do you mean to tell it to ignore the joint brokerage account when I set up my husband's login because that account will be pulled in with my login?

q_lurker- the mutual funds in my Vanguard SIMPLE account have the ffff-xxxxxxx account number that you described. The xxxxxxx is the same for all 3 funds I have in there. Are you saying I am going to have to move them into three separate SIMPLE funds or can I just use that xxxxxxx as the account number? That's going to be a real pain with each in a separate account

Jim_Harmon- Good tip on stopping Automatically Add Transaction. I forgot to ask how to stop downloading a bunch of old transactions I already entered. I will definitely do a back-up before I try anything!

q_lurker

No, you will not have to change anything with account numbers. Note the account numbers at Vanguard and be prepared to link them directly to your existing Quicken accounts.

NCuser

Great. Thanks q_lurker!

Bob_L

@NCuser

Did that a long time ago, but just call and ask how to provide online access-not necessarily buy and sell authority- to each other’s accounts. You may have to submit a notarized form, but I don’t think a medallion guarantee is required for that.

Jim_Harman

NCuser

Awesome. Thanks all. I will have to just with Vanguard about getting access to all accounts with one login. I handle everything anyway. If I die first my poor husband won't know where the money is!

NCuser

Setting up access for me in Vanguard worked like a charm. For anyone that happens upon this thread, it's under My Accounts/Account Maintenance/Account Permissions/Grant Access Online. As mentioned above, the person you give access to has to have a Vanguard account. You can't give online access for most ERISA plans (like 401K), 529 accounts or annuities. You have the option of Inquiry Access where they can only see account info, or Limited Authority, where they can also make certain transactions but can't write checks or transfer money to another person's, change your account information, beneficiary's etc. It took about 5 min to submit the request on his account and accept it on mine. I logged out and logged back in and now I can see everything (and hopefully download everything) with just one login.

Hopefully I will have time to try it this weekend. Thanks everyone!