Remove cash balance from 401k

J0Y0US

Is there anyway to remove the negative cash balance from the 401k without manually removing each time a record is added?

Everything is a payroll deduction so there is no record of the funds as money is recorded coming in via my bank.

John_M

Do you enter your paycheck as net pay only or do you enter your gross pay and have split lines for deductions like taxes and health insurance?

What I and many others do is enter the gross pay as a positive amount and then have all of the deductions on split lines as negative amounts. This would include the 401(k) contribution. While other deductions such as taxes and health insurance are expenses, the 401(k) contribution would be a transfer to your 401(k) account, not an expense. This creates a cash balance in the 401(k) account and then when your investment buy happens to purchase more shares in your 401(k) account, the cash balance is reduced by the amount of the purchase. This will keep you from having a negative cash balance.

If you have an employer match, you will need to add this as an additional positive item (like salary) and then transfer it to the 401(k) account along with your employee contribution.

If you want to enter only your net pay (i.e., not keep track off deductions), you will need to add an income transaction each pay period as a transfer into your 401(k) account.

The principle at work here is that there needs to be two sides to your contribution – an inflow and an outflow. Right now you only have the outflow, which is why things aren't balancing.

Feel free to write back with more details. There will be plenty of people willing to assist you.

John_M

Do you enter your paycheck as net pay only or do you enter your gross pay and have split lines for deductions like taxes and health insurance?

What I and many others do is enter the gross pay as a positive amount and then have all of the deductions on split lines as negative amounts. This would include the 401(k) contribution. While other deductions such as taxes and health insurance are expenses, the 401(k) contribution would be a transfer to your 401(k) account, not an expense. This creates a cash balance in the 401(k) account and then when your investment buy happens to purchase more shares in your 401(k) account, the cash balance is reduced by the amount of the purchase. This will keep you from having a negative cash balance.

If you have an employer match, you will need to add this as an additional positive item (like salary) and then transfer it to the 401(k) account along with your employee contribution.

If you want to enter only your net pay (i.e., not keep track off deductions), you will need to add an income transaction each pay period as a transfer into your 401(k) account.

The principle at work here is that there needs to be two sides to your contribution – an inflow and an outflow. Right now you only have the outflow, which is why things aren't balancing.

Feel free to write back with more details. There will be plenty of people willing to assist you.