Should I resolve placeholder or delete and add individual transactions?

harry askenazi

When I resolve a placeholder by entering the missing transations in an investment account register, I see that in my register, the date of the Entry transaction is still the date the placeholder was created. Despite the dates of the missing transactions that I entered all occurring before the placeholder entry date.

Is there a limitation with entering the placeholders this way? Will I lose tax/other reporting features if I do not enter the transactions individually and delete the placeholder? Dont even know if I can delete a placeholder.

Thanks for the help

Frankx

Hi @harry askenazi,

You should probably review the guidance on placeholders located here https://www.quicken.com/support/how-do-i-resolve-placeholder-entries

It says that you should be able to enter transactions that are dated "prior to the date of the placeholders" that will resolve the issue.  Presumably you would then delete the placeholder. 

The guidance does not indicate that the date(s) of such corrective entries will be dated the same as the placeholder date.  If that is not happening for you (if Quicken is changing the date you are inputting to the placeholder date), that could potentially indicate a different issue.

In any case - it will ALWAYS be better for an account to not have any placeholders, because transactions dated and entered which contain correct historical data based on specific events, are always better than automatic entries made by a computer program based on some formulae. Using a placeholder as a substitute could affect a tax calculation adversely and also cause incorrect related reporting from a financial perspective.

Hope this helps.

Frankx

Jim_Harman

I think trying to resolve Placeholders by using the Enter Missing Transactions button can lead to more confusion than necessary. This is because the Placeholder prevents new transactions in that security prior to the Placeholder date from changing the cash balance in the account.

This is not a problem if the missing transaction(s) are only Reinvests, because they do not affect the cash balance. But if a missing transaction is a Bought, for example, entering an earlier Bought while the Placeholder is still present will create a balancing cash adjustment for the purchase amount just before the Bought transaction. When the placeholder is resolved in this way, your share balance will be correct but now your cash balance will generally be wrong.

To further confuse matters, the cash adjustment is linked to the Bought, so trying to fix things by deleting it will also delete the Bought.

I think it is better to note the number of shares in the Placeholder that need to be corrected and the Placeholder date, then delete the placeholder before entering any missing transactions that would affect the cash balance in your account.

Surprisingly, Quicken's information on resolving placeholders never mentions the cash adjustment issue.

Boatnmaniac

I agree, @Jim_Harman .  One additional step to add:  After deleting the placeholder and entering the missing transactions (or correcting transactions with incorrect information in them), I suggest the following steps be taken:

1) Account Register > upper right Gear icon > Reconcile Shares.  This will tell you if your shares held in Quicken and as reported by your brokerage are now in agreement.  If they are still not in agreement, Quicken will tell you which security(ies) are still in disagreement so those can be fixed. 

2)  Once all holdings are in agreement and if your Cash is included in your Investment Account in Quicken:  Click on the blue font underlined Cash Balance amount at the lower right corner of the register to see if the Cash Balances in Quicken as reported by the brokerage are in agreement.  If they are, then reconcile the Investment Account (Account Register > upper right Gear icon > Reconcile).

3)  If your Cash is held in a linked Checking Account:  Compare and reconcile that Checking Account to your brokerage statement or to what your online brokerage account shows.  After reconciling, go back to the Investment Account register and then reconcile that (enter $0.00 for the cash balance during this process).

After reconciling, if there are any Placeholders that come up in the future, you can feel reasonably confident that the missing or incorrect transactions occurred after the last date of reconciliation which can greatly simplify addressing the discrepancy(ies) identified in the Placeholder(s).

Jim_Harman

One additional note on @Boatnmaniac's step 1:

Click on Done to close the Securities Comparison Mismatch dialog after noting the FI's share count. If you click on Details. DO NOT accept Quicken's offer to create a Placeholder to make up any difference.

Boatnmaniac

Jim_Harman said:

One additional note on @Boatnmaniac's step 1:

Click on Done to close the Securities Comparison Mismatch dialog after noting the FI's share count. If you click on Details. DO NOT accept Quicken's offer to create a Placeholder to make up any difference.

Good catch, @Jim_Harman .  I should have noted that myself.

Unknown

I have correctly entered all my place holders in an investment account including the correct number of shares, the correct cost and purchase date. But the place holders still are still listed and say "Enter History". How do I get rid of these no-longer needed place holders?

Jim_Harman

Once the share count in the Placeholder is down to zero you can simply delete it.

If you want to get rid of all the Placeholders in an account, you can click on Placeholder Entries at the bottom right of the account's transaction list (register) and click on Delete All.