Another TSP Question - How to I add shares owned to QW?

TXShooter

How does one enter the number of shares owned in the various Funds (C, S, I, L-2030, etc.) in QD R25.21 Build 27.1.25.21? I've created the Security for the C-Fund, downloaded the data from at least this last quarter, and now have no knowledge as to how to add shares that TSP.Gov says that I own. How do I manually enter this information? (Better yet, is there a How To on TSP in Quicken, from adding the Security, setting its Type, Asset Class, etc.?) Can ya hep a brutha out?

jrich75

You might try an "Adjust Share Balance" transaction to set the reported share balance for each Fund for the date you want to start tracking in Quicken.
I've tracked my Thrift Savings Plan account in Quicken for about 25 years using just the basic investment functions. As far as I know, TSP is pretty much do-it-yourself as far as Quicken goes. I haven't found a way automate transaction input so far.

When you talk about downloading data, do you mean just the statement or transaction data? When I do that, I need manually enter the reported number of shares & total transaction value, letting Quicken calculate the per share value on that date.

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jrich75

My TSP is set up as an investment/retirement account and the various funds are individual securities in the account. The Adjust Share Balance is a transaction option similar to Buy or Sell but without an associated cost. It is useful for setting the share balance to match the reported number of shares on a specific date. Then all subsequent transactions can track from that number by entering the number of shares and total value of the transaction.

When I started TSP, there was only G Fund and it had a fixed share value of $1. I have several funds now but have never bothered with an Asset Class or Type.

NotACPA

The initial transaction into any investment account MIGHT be an "Add Shares".  This will allow you to set the cost basis for the securities ... which "Adjust Share Balance" won't do.

OR, if you're showing cash in the account (which doesn't seem to be the case here) it would be BUY transactions.

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NotACPA

You need to do INVESTING, Security List, Add Security for each security that you hold in the 401k

THEN, go into that 401k Account and click ENTER TRANSACTION, Add - Shares Added for each security.

It's really quite simple

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Jim_Harman

@TXShooter

Have you created an investing account to hold the securities?

It sounds like that may be the step you are missing. Go to Tools > Add Account ... and pick the appropriate type of account under Investing & Retirement and follow the instructions there. That account is where you will be adding the securities. 

NotACPA

TOOLS,  Account  List,  Add account.

That can be done before, or after, the additions to the Security List.

And, it's only the "Enter Transaction" step that actually adds the holdings to your Q file

jrich75

> @jrfaris said:
> My TSP is set up as an investment/retirement account and the various funds are individual securities in the account.

This short video explains adding transactions to an account once it is set up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2PE4zzpYG4

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jrich75

I would use a Brokerage account since you have multiple funds in TSP. Then the advanced setup since TSP does not support transaction download. You will need to enter transactions manually.

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jrich75

I believe the answer is yes to both. It's been a long time since I set up my TSP. If you don't add all the funds now, you can do so later.
If you are new to TSP then the starting share balance for each fund would be zero and you would manually enter each transaction from your first quarterly statement. If you have a lot past contributions, you could simply add or adjust shares to reflect the account status at the start of the latest statement and then simply track current and future transactions.

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Jim_Harman

If you track the contributions to the account as deductions from your paycheck and transfers to the TSP account, you should enter the securities purchased using Bought transactions. Normally you would do this with Quicken's Paycheck Wizard.

If you are just recording the net amount of your paycheck, you should enter the securities as Added. In either case, if you enter the cost and purchase dates correctly, Quicken will be able to track the performance of your investments.

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Jim_Harman

You can't purchase the shares, but they are purchased for you by the "robot" using the cash that is deposited in your account. The cash is deducted from your paycheck and there is probably also a match from your agency or whatever. See this explanation of your statements
https://www.tsp.gov/PDF/formspubs/tsplf13.pdf

jrich75

> @TXShooter said:
> Two things:
> 1) The view seems ... odd, like it's broken or something.
> 2) These are Placeholders? Is that what they are supposed to be, and can you explain what they are if 'yes'?

These are the share balances when you start tracking in Quicken and will be added to or subtracted from by each transaction you enter.

After you have a few transactions input, it can display gain or loss for the period of time covered. Clicking the Holdings button will display the total account balance on a given date you can select. To reconcile, I usually set Holdings to the statement date and verify that the share balance in each fund is accurate. You can also manually enter the share value for that date in the Holdings view and verify that the total values match.

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Jim_Harman

To help understand what is going on, make sure Placeholders are not hidden - go to Edit > Preferences > Investment transactions and make sure "Show hidden transactions" is checked.

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Jim_Harman

Sorry, yes, those are placeholders. They force your share balance to be correct but do not account for the cost of the shares. To "Resolve" a placeholder (see Help) you must go back and enter the missing transaction(s), either Added or Bought, that got those shares into your account. 

Placeholders are a quick and dirty way to get your share balances to match your statements, but  most of us hate them because they prevent Quicken's performance tracking from working. 

If you want to track your performance, then to record new shares you should click on Enter Transactions and pick Buy if you are tracking the cash in the account or Add if not. In either case you should enter the cost of the shares purchased from your statement.

It sounds like you are tracking the cash. In your split paycheck transaction, you should be transferring the contributions to the TSP account. Then that money will be used to purchase the investments.

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Jim_Harman

1) Yes, it looks like you entered those contributions correctly.

2) The Market Value in the account overview is as of 4/21/2020, with a share price of 31.778164, but the ending balance on your statement presumably has a different share price.  You need to make sure Quicken has the correct share price as of the statement ending date and then set the As of date for the account overview to that date for the account balances to match.

3) Make sure you are using consistent terms. In Quicken, "Quote/price" * "Shares" = "Market Value" 

4) You should transfer the cash contributions into the TSP investing account and use Buy rather then Added transactions to purchase the securities. If you enter the numbers correctly, the cash should be zero at the end of the period. Note that there may be a delay between the time the cash is deducted from your paycheck and the shares are purchased. You will see the cash in your TSP investing account during that time.

5) You may be able to get the details of the purchases from the TSP website, or you can enter one big transaction at the end of the quarter, using the total shares purchased and the total of your contributions. Let Quicken compute the price per share, which will be the average price you paid.  

jrich75

Jim's answers are good but I'll try to clarify a bit:
2) on the Account Overview (Holdings Button) you can see the little clock by the Quote/Price. That means the number is estimated for the date shown. To balance, you need to set the As Of: date to the statement date (probably 6/30/18 in this case) and if the price is still estimated, enter the correct price from your statement ending balance (31.1841 in this case) Then if all the transactions covered by the statement were entered correctly, the shares and market value should balance to the statement ending balance.

4&5) Paycheck contribution spits can be categorized as transfers into the TSP account. If so, they will show as a cash balance there. Then as Jim says, the funds should be converted to shares with a buy transaction on the same date. I don't use a CSV download, I simply enter the transaction manually by inputing the date, fund, number of shares and total value; letting Quicken calculate share price. This can either be done quarterly when you get the statement or you can get the info from the TSP web site transaction page, anytime after the pay date. So you end up with one (or more if you track employer matching) XIN (cash in) transactions as well as a Bought (Buy) for each fund on every payday.

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