Importing Funds from Schwab to Quicken 2017 - Label Errors

jsternmd

I connect to Schwab through Direct Connect.  I see from Schwab's website that the (+) cash payment of dividends (to be auto reinvested) are labeled "Reinvest Dividend" and the corresponding purchase of shares is labeled "Reinvest Shares".   On Direct Connect import most of the time Quicken converts the Reinvest Dividend to 'Div" and the Reinvest Shares to 'Bought'.  All matches up as one is (+) cash and the other is (-) cash.  However every 4th or 5th time Quicken records the "Reinvest Dividend" as "ReInvDiv" -- (+) cash but no matching transaction for the purchase of shares.  I have gone into Schwab directly and downloaded the history file manually and there are no glitches, typo's or other mistakes in the Schwab record for these glitches.  It is a real PITA to manually find and fix these.  Any advice?

jsternmd

SOLVED---  I found a pattern.  The ones that are separated by Quicken into 2 actions are caused by some quirk at Schwab where the Div posted date always falls on a Friday and the Reinvested Shares purchase date is the next business day (usually Monday).   Has anyone seen that with other Brokerage firms?

Jim_Harman

Normally a ReinvDiv combines a dividend payment with the purchase of shares, so there should be no separate Bought transaction. If you edit the ReinvDiv, does it show zero shares next to the dividend amount?

q_lurker

Talk to Schwab.  I am not trying to pass the buck, but what you see on their website may not be what they send through the "Direct Connect" interface.  It is doubtful Quicken is "converting" anything.  More likely they are taking information from Schwab at face value.

You can see for yourself what Schwab is sending through the Help / Log Files / OFX logs information, but that can require some diligence to break down.  

jsternmd

Yes you are correct, those with action labeled "ReInvDiv" show a single transaction where the Inv Amt column shows the $ amount and the Shares Bal. column show the additional shares purchased.  However, the majority of the transactions identically listed on Schwab as separate actions are imported into Quicken as separate Div and Bought.  I cannot see anything on the Schwab history file that distinguishes why Quicken handles some the ReInvDiv single action method while most are separate transactions.  At first I thought maybe if the two actions were on adjacent lines in Schwab then Quicken would "pair" them but I see that this is random and almost always the Schwab history of Reinvest Dividends and Reinvest Shares (for same symbol) are lines apart.  Historically I think Quicken is still correctly tracking the different lots purchased.  I assume I could leave it as is and any reports etc would still be numerically correct??

jsternmd

SOLVED---  I found a pattern.  The ones that are separated by Quicken into 2 actions are caused by some quirk at Schwab where the Div posted date always falls on a Friday and the Reinvested Shares purchase date is the next business day (usually Monday).   Has anyone seen that with other Brokerage firms?

jsternmd

When the Div and Shares reinvested occur on same day (Mon-Thu) then Quicken combines the 2 actions into a single ReinvDiv

jsternmd

Will this Friday quirk create any complications down the road for me?

Jim_Harman

@jsternmd, have you looked at the OFX log to see if Schwab is sending 2 transactions - a Div and a Bought on the same day, and they appear in Quicken as a ReinvDiv, or are they sending one ReinvDiv transaction?

Jim_Harman

In general, it does not matter whether you record a Div and a Bought on the same day or a ReinvDiv, the cost basis and performance calculations will be the same. 

There will be a difference in the value of Quicken's "amount invested" which will include the Bought but not the ReinvDiv. Whether this makes any practical difference has been a matter of significant debate here over the years...