Problem downloading Vanguard Stock Fund

Unknown

I've downloaded my new 401k information from Vanguard via Direct Connect and even manually downloaded the complete file for the year.
Every time I do it, the balance fund information loads perfectly. The Stock fund (T.Rowe Price Blue Chip Growth Fund) is wrong. It shows today's total balance fine. Then the total balance amount shows up in the Gains/Loss column for 2 weeks then only a few cents show up both under Market Value and Gain/Loss for the next 2 weeks. It shows the same few cents in both columns. I've even tried downloading to a new Quicken file and get the same result. I've done this at least a dozen times over the past 3 weeks and tried it with an old back-up file and get the same result. Any idea what's going on with this? I talked to Quicken Help who said they would escalate but want to know if anyone else is having this issue so it may be resolved more quickly for all of us. Thanks!

John_in_NC

Being that this is Direct Connect, then you likely will have to wait for the escalation to take place as the erroneous data or balances is coming from Vanguard.

But, you can sate your curiosity as to what is potentially the problem: I suspect Vanguard is pushing out incorrect share balance info, and placeholders are kicking in to adjust accordingly as to what is being reported.

It sounds like the initial import works correctly. Immediately after doing this, scroll to the beginning of the register to look for the Placeholders (in light gray.) These act as opening balance adjustments so that your final share balance is correct. You will likely see Add Share transactions for the fund, and possibly cash if it is held in this account. Note the amount of shares added, and the total amount of the fund when in Portfolio view.

Now, on later updates, revisit these transactions. My guess is that they are changing to update to an incorrect amount that Vanguard is pushing out for your currently held amount for this fund. 

The other things to check is that the price history for this fund is correct. But, I suspect you will see issues with the placeholders.

In some cases, you can simply delete them, but you have to know what is going on/what you are doing. (They do exist for a legitimate purpose.)  Start there.