Why is WellsFargo401k showing as negative in Quicken (Mac) when balance is positive online?

FayOnQuick

I'm only new to Quicken for Mac, when it comes to monitoring investments (401k, etc). I'm a longtime user when it comes to regular bank accounts.

So this is odd, I have investment accounts at TDA and Wells Fargo.
The TDA downloads into Quicken are correct.

But Wells Fargo 401k info that I just downloaded into Quicken is completely off from what shows up online. Any suggestions on how to correct?

Thanks so much!

Frankx

Hi @FayOnQuicken.

We are going to need more information in order to help you.

So can you confirm that the Well Fargo account is completely new in your Quicken file - that is you weren't tracking that account prior to the recent download?

How long have you owned  this account?  How many months of transactions were downloaded into Quicken? Did the Quicken program setup a placeholder entry in the account?

Get back to us and we'll go from there.

Frankx

FayOnQuick

Hi @Frankx,
Thanks for your questions.
(1) Yes, the WF account is completely new in Quicken - just added yesterday.
(2) The actual account is a little over 4 months old -- started Nov 2019
(3) Dates for downloaded transactions are: 11/01/2019 - 03/13/2020
(4) What do you mean by placeholder entry? My guess is the Quicken program did not set this up -- since I don't know what's this means.
(5) Probably further complicating all of this is that I'm a novice to investing terminology -- so for example, I just searched for "placeholder" in Help on Quicken and landed on a page

FayOnQuick

Hi @Frankx,
Please disregard the prior reply as it's incomplete - inadvertently posted!! So...to start from the top.

Thanks for your questions!
(1) Yes, the WF account is completely new in Quicken - just added yesterday.
(2) The actual 401K account is a little over 4 months old -- started Nov 2019.
(3) Dates of downloaded transactions are: 11/01/2019 - 03/13/2020.
(4) What do you mean by placeholder entry? My guess is the Quicken program did not set this up -- since I don't know what's this means.
(5) Probably further complicating all of this is that I'm a novice with record-keeping and deciphering of investment accounts.

Since you mentioned "placeholder" - I just searched for "placeholder" in my Quicken program. I landed on a page titled "Resolving missing cost basis (placeholders)" - In Quicken 5.15.1 Help.

After a quick read, I can tell you that the instructions are more advanced than my current investment understanding. That being said, I'm hopeful, that this exercise will advance my ability to understand what I'm looking at in Quicken.

I look forward to your reply. In the meanwhile, I'll review the placeholder instructions (which hopefully are on target with what I need to learn)!

Thanks so much for any guidance you can provide!!

All best,
FayOnQuick

(edited)

Frankx

Hi @FayOnQuick,

Thanks, the information you provided is helpful.

So, now that you've read about "placeholders" you probably realize that I asked the question because I suspected that your "out of balance" was caused by a placeholder - which is actually quite common.  However, given that your account originated around 11/1/19 and the fact that the transaction download dates are from 11/1/19 through 3/13/20, it seems less likely to be a placeholder. 

Placeholders usually come into play where Quicken doesn't have the ability to download all the account transaction history and because the records are incomplete, it then inserts a placeholder transaction to get the account balance to equal what it actually knows to be the "current" ending balance.  But let's make sure. Open up the register for the 401k account and look at the bottom of the page; do you see a number here:


Let me know.

Frankx