401K Transaction Categories in Investment Report / _RlzdGain for SoldX Transaction

butlerd12

Alight 401K downloaded to Quicken. Looking at Account Overview > Holdings in Quicken, the share balance and market value match Alight, but the breakdown between cost basis and gain is slightly different. Using the Investment Transactions report to troubleshoot, I noticed a portion of each monthly SoldX transaction for expenses is assigned to a category _RlzdGain, and if I add that _RlzdGain to the Gain shown on the Holdings panel, Quicken and Alight match (er, disagree by an amount I'm willing to ignore - $1.40). So really I have two questions: (1) the Registry transactions don't list categories - I don't even see a place for categories - so I am not sure where the Investment Transaction report is getting the category _Rlzd Gain, and (2) I'm not sure its correct for Quicken to reduce the gain by the _RlzdGain. Help me. Please.

Jim_Harman

In Quicken, _RlzdGain is computed when shares are sold and is used for tax computations - it is basically the proceeds of the sale minus the cost basis of the shares sold.

Quicken's Gain/Loss is a measure of the performance of a holding. It is (starting shares) * ((ending share price) - (starting share price))

These are explained more or less accurately in the Help glossary and in the Help section on performance calculations.

Alight may be using different calculations for these measures.

q_lurker

The Gain shown on the holdings panel is going to be the difference between the cost basis for the shares currently owned an the current market value for those shares.  Those are unrealized gains -- unrealized meaning they are gains on paper; they don't represent real spendable cash dollars at that time. 

Realized gains are those you have turned into cash - by selling shares.  Every time any shares are sold, the profit (or loss) portion of the sale proceeds, that amount above or below the cost of those shares, is processed in Quicken to the hidden _RlzdGain category.  Depending on what is trying to be represented, it may or may not be meaningful to add those two values.   

If your cost basis in Quicken differs from what Alright is telling you, I suspect they are processing the sale from different lots than you are having Quicken use.  Quicken, by default unless you choose differently will be selling the oldest shares first.  That is known as FIFO, or First In, First Out.  Alright may be selling differently or using an average cost basis, since the _RlzdGain amount is not relevant (tax-wise) in a 401k account.

HTH  

butlerd12

Thank you both so much for the thorough and helpful answers. This all makes sense to me. I was trying to use the cost basis and gain as a sanity check for the underlying transactions, but it seems like I'll need to accept some disparity as reasonable based on differences in the assumptions employed by the two sources in their calculations. Regarding the "hidden categories" in Quicken, is there any way to see those in the registry? And is there any way to see/adjust the cost basis method (FIFO, LIFO, etc.) at the account level? I don't see those options anywhere in Quicken, and seeing that may help me reconcile the remaining accounts I need to tackle. (I'm undergoing a personal reformation over here - for years I blindly downloaded and accepted transactions, but I've now realized the error of my ways. I've got four Vanguard accounts on deck next.)

Jim_Harman

You must select the lots to sell each time you make a partial sale. There is an open Idea request to let users specify a default method. For more info see here
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7296012/default-lot-identification-22-legacy-votes/p1

If you want to change the lots for prior sales, you must edit the corresponding Sold transactions.

Be sure to back up your data file in case something goes wrong.

butlerd12

Thank you!