When entering a buy transaction, in a 401k, the cash value is not deducted from the balance.

terry_folsom

When entering a buy transaction, in a 401k, the cash value is not deducted from the balance. The Cash Amnt reads N/A. How can this be fixed? Is this a defect ?

Jim_Harman

[edited - clarity and more info]
I think we are not talking about the same thing. Here is an example of an investing account with a Placeholder dated 6/1/19. The Placeholder forces the share balance on 6/1 to 105 and also prevents your cash balance from changing due to earlier transactions in the affected security. 


As you can see the Placeholder has an Action type of Entry and it is gray even if the transaction is not selected. There is also some text about placeholders at the bottom of the transaction list and a count of the number of placeholders in the account next to Placeholder Entries at the bottom. If you click on this it will show links to the placeholders and there is a Delete All button that will get rid of all of them in one fell swoop. Note that the count is not always updated until you click on it, which sort of defeats its purpose.

Placeholders are usually created at the end of a download session when Quicken compares its share balances to those downloaded from your FI and detects a difference of more than .001 share. The Placeholder(s) may be many months later in your file than the missing transactions.

In an attempt to resolve the Placeholder, I entered a Bought transaction for 3 shares on 5/1. The Placeholder automatically adjusts from +5 to +2 shares and Quicken also inserts a linked balancing cash transaction before the Bought I entered. This is what prevents the Bought from changing the cash balance.

I will have to delete the placeholder before I can enter a transaction for ths security that affects the cash balance. Quicken's Help does not explain this. You should note the date and share balance of the placeholder before deleting it so you will know when you are done entering the missing transactions.

As always, back up your data before changing historical transactions.

Jim_Harman

Right. And if you look farther down in the transaction list you will find one or more gray Placeholders for that security. Once you have deleted the Placeholders, Quicken will let you delete the balancing cash adjustments without automatically deleting the Buys.

It will also let you enter more Buys without automatically creating balancing cash adjustments.

Jim_Harman

The N/A indicates that there is a Placeholder in your account for a later date than the transaction you are trying to enter.These are hidden by default. Go to Edit > Preferences > Investment transactions and make sure Show hidden transactions is selected, then resolve and delete the placeholder.

terry_folsom

Thanks, Yes/No... How about partly? I did as you suggested and there are hidden "Balancing Cash Adjustments" for each manual entry. Deleting the first of the "placeholders" (formerly hidden transactions) It deleted the Bought transaction simultaneously? Recreating the buy, recreates the "Balancing Cash Adjustments". It seems to be a loop. Can it be broken. If it matters, these transactions had to be manually created to fill in a three month gap from before I could download from the finin. The downloaded transactions all function as intended. The problem is only apparent with the manual entries. The downloaded xactions do not generate hidden "Balancing Cash Adjustments". What am I missing ?

Jim_Harman

The balancing cash adjustment linked to a buy is what you get when you enter transactions prior to a Placeholder that try to affect your cash balance.

The actual placeholders will have a gray background even when not selected and will have an action type of Entry.

terry_folsom

I accept what you say I should be seeing, but none of them are Gray. I have tried changing one to a negative (minus) transaction and it won't. Attempting a general edit just gives an error that "the placeholder was entered by Quicken to preserve my existing ballance and (can not be) modified." Is there any other kind of placeholder ? These just seem to be blocking my attempts to fix missing transaction (with complete price, share amounts and cash amounts).

terry_folsom

This is not what I seem to be seeing: "Enter the missing transaction history for a security if you want the additional benefits of performance monitoring, tax tracking, or historical record keeping. When you enter the missing transactions, Quicken will subtract shares from the placeholder transaction until they equal zero.

401(k) note

The first time you download transactions from your financial institution into a 401(k) account, Quicken uses special 401(k) placeholder transactions to help account for employer and employee contributions. You do not need to edit these." (quicken.com/support/about-placeholder-entries)
So thanks for the tip on placeholders. 'Still stuck though !

Jim_Harman

[edited - clarity and more info]
I think we are not talking about the same thing. Here is an example of an investing account with a Placeholder dated 6/1/19. The Placeholder forces the share balance on 6/1 to 105 and also prevents your cash balance from changing due to earlier transactions in the affected security. 


As you can see the Placeholder has an Action type of Entry and it is gray even if the transaction is not selected. There is also some text about placeholders at the bottom of the transaction list and a count of the number of placeholders in the account next to Placeholder Entries at the bottom. If you click on this it will show links to the placeholders and there is a Delete All button that will get rid of all of them in one fell swoop. Note that the count is not always updated until you click on it, which sort of defeats its purpose.

Placeholders are usually created at the end of a download session when Quicken compares its share balances to those downloaded from your FI and detects a difference of more than .001 share. The Placeholder(s) may be many months later in your file than the missing transactions.

In an attempt to resolve the Placeholder, I entered a Bought transaction for 3 shares on 5/1. The Placeholder automatically adjusts from +5 to +2 shares and Quicken also inserts a linked balancing cash transaction before the Bought I entered. This is what prevents the Bought from changing the cash balance.

I will have to delete the placeholder before I can enter a transaction for ths security that affects the cash balance. Quicken's Help does not explain this. You should note the date and share balance of the placeholder before deleting it so you will know when you are done entering the missing transactions.

As always, back up your data before changing historical transactions.

terry_folsom

Indeed, we are not. Initially there were just transfers into cash from my paycheck. Then I finnally got HR to get the info for updates to Quicken, then I went back to add the missing transactions, the Bought lines. Mine look like this:

Jim_Harman

Right. And if you look farther down in the transaction list you will find one or more gray Placeholders for that security. Once you have deleted the Placeholders, Quicken will let you delete the balancing cash adjustments without automatically deleting the Buys.

It will also let you enter more Buys without automatically creating balancing cash adjustments.

terry_folsom

OK, Found it. It turned gray once I went to two line entries and all is well ! Thanks.