Some Questions about Archiving Investment Transactions

ciarmer

I am using Quicken 2019 for Windows (R19.44). I upgraded to Q 2019 with the express purpose of accessing the Archive process. I was having difficulty with my Quicken file crashing. In order to get a working copy of Quicken, I upgraded to Q 2019 and then restored a backup file which was about two weeks old and then ran the Archive process. I'm very pleased with the results. The accounts respond more quickly and with no crashes.

I do have some questions and would appreciate any input.

The file I restored from backup contained transactions through 5/31/2019.

The Archive process was run as of 6/15/2019.

Once I had a working file, I downloaded transactions from my financial institution (Fidelity) which brought the file up to date with transactions from 6/1/2019 through 6/15/2019.


Overall, in summary, I'm very happy with the archive process as it has saved my file from the garbage heap. But I do have these questions (and I'm sure others will arise as time goes on).

[Questions removed at OP's request]

Jim_Harman

I just tried an Archive on a copy of my active file and observed the following:

-- The archive is done as of today - there is no option to specify the as-of date for the archive.

-- The archive file is not enabled for transaction download and the active file is.

-- I am surprised when you say some transactions you downloaded after archiving went into the archive account. I would expect that if you have transactions for securities that were archived waiting to be downloaded for dates prior to the archive date (as you do because of your crashing problems) they will be downloaded into your active account when perhaps they should have gone into the archive account.

You will probably have to correct these manually. You should be able to CAREFULLY use the Move transactions function to put these transactions in the correct account.

-- If possible (not possible for you because of your crashing problems) it is a good idea to have all the transactions up to date before archiving.

-- Also in my case the account's cash balance is normally zero, because all the cash is swept to the money market settlement fund. After the archive, there is a huge negative cash balance in the archive account which is matched by a huge positive balance in the active account. This is corrected by a cash transfer between the accounts on the archive date.

This is because all the transactions for the money market settlement fund are still in the active account. Thus you have to look at the two accounts together to see the correct cash balance.

You will also have to look at the two accounts together to see the overall historic account balances, because one real account has now been split into two overlapping accounts in Quicken

Since in my case the last transaction moved to the archive account was many years ago, one way to mitigate this is to change the cash transfer date to just after the last moved transaction. This restores the correct cash balance in the active account for recent years.

ciarmer

Thanks so much for this reply. It really helped me understand what is going on. You are correct, of course, that no downloaded transactions went into the archive account. I almost wish I could delete my entire post because I completely misunderstood the results I was seeing.

Here's what I am left with, which is odd but may be easy to explain. My archive account is left with a small cash balance which is offset exactly by a small securities value for a total value of zero. The zero is expected. I thought I could look at the holdings in the account to see what the securities value is made up of but the only thing I see when I click on "Holdings" is a small negative securities balance (with no securities shown as being held). This small negative is offset exactly by a positive cash amount and the total value of the account is zero.

What security is generating this negative value? I really don't know but I believe it has something to do with the way Fidelity is reporting cash in my investment account. Cash is held in something called Fidelity cash reserve which has a symbol (as I mentioned in my post) but it never is recognized that way in Quicken. It simply shows up as cash. I know that all of the "dividend" payments from this "cash" security in this account are now in the archive account. I believe when Quicken saw a dividend paid on a non-existent security (the cash reserve holding which has a Fidelity symbol but doesn't have a symbol in Quicken) it assumed it was a security which is no longer held so it placed these "dividends" in the archive.

As it turns out, my cash balance in the remaining investment account is understated by about the same amount as the cash that is in the archive account. Not exactly the amount but close enough for me to suspect that is the missing cash.

I'm inclined, right now, to enter an adjusting cash entry into my investment account and call it a day (or a month!)

I'd love your input. Sorry for the previous post where I simply made some really bad assumptions as to what was going on.

ciarmer

Jim - I did more poking around. I really wish I could delete my original post as it was totally and completely misleading and incorrect.

I'm down to one questions and would love to get your input on it if you have time. I've posted it as a separate question.

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7855528/transaction-archive-another-question-about-my-results/p1?new=1

Jim_Harman

One of my "superpowers" is that I can edit your original post. Would you like me to delete your questions? I think the further discussion is still useful

ciarmer

wow - I'll leave that to you. If you see any redeeming qualities in there anywhere I'll leave it to you. I understand the process much better now and I wouldn't want to confuse anyone.