Linking Vanguard Federal Money Account to Cash

Hartmut

Vanguard Brokerage holds cash in a Federal Money Market or Sweep account. When I buy stocks Quicken shows the negative purchase price under Cost Basis and Market Value and the Federal Money Market remains unchanged.

My question is, how to link the Money Market account to my buys and sells. Transactions should be booked there. Thank you in advance.

Jim_Harman

Be patient. When you buy a security, the cash balance will go negative for 3(?) trading days then when the purchase settles, Vanguard will download a Sold on the money market fund bringing the cash balance back to zero.

The opposite happens when you sell.

This delay does not apply to dividends or to purchases and sales of Vanguard mutual funds, 

Hartmut

Thanks, Jim.
The federal money account shows at the time in Quicken still the same amount as before the purchase but the bought stock is already in Quicken shown with its asset value (balanced with the negative CASH).
At the brokerage is the bought stock value deducted from the federal money account. Will Quicken book a correct transaction from that account also after settlement?

Jim_Harman

When the purchase settles, usually after a delay of 3 trading days, you should see a downloaded transaction that sells the money market fund with the proceeds going to the account's cash balance, bringing the balance to zero.

NotACPA

In my Fidelity brokerage account, I don't bother with the mutual fund or sweep account that the money is actually in ... and I just carry it in the account as CASH.

Makes things MUCH simpler.

Jim_Harman

@NotACPA ignoring the money market fund means you have to delete or not accept all of Fidelity's downloaded Buy and Sell transactions on that fund and convert the MMF's ReinvDiv transactions to Divs, right? Do you also get a mismatch if you attempt to reconcile shares?

Hartmut

I agree with Jim, all my security dividend goes into the brokerage federal money account, don't want to mess with that transactions.
My thinking was if it was possible to point Quicken Cash to that brokerage money account or with other words, if there is a way to make the brokerage federal money account in Quicken to the Cash account.

NotACPA

I don't download for that MMF.  So I don't have to delete anything. It just all comes in as cash.

PerryB

Is there a way to get Quicken to treat Vanguard Federal MoneyMarket as cash when it downloads transactions?

Jim_Harman

I do not know of a way to do it automatically.

You can enter a manual Sell for your current holding and delete or not accept future downloaded Bought and Sold transactions for that fund. You would also need to edit any ReinvDivs to make them Divs.