Investment Accounts showing negative cash amount

larsoncjl

I have linked several retirement accounts to Quicken, so that they update automatically. The total value does not match the total value that is on the actual account website. The difference seems to be a cash line with a negative amount. Why is that cash line there? it seems to correlate to contributions I have made. They should be part of the total value.

volvogirl

So how have your contributions been entered into the account to use up the cash?  You need to have your paycheck deductions going to the retirement account.  Then when you download the buys from your plan it will buy the shares using the cash balance.  

volvogirl

Oh yeah, you should be splitting up your paycheck by entering the gross amount and all the deductions.  A Mac user might have to help you.  You probably have a paycheck wizard.

in your checking account, how do you enter the auto payments to the investment account?  They should be a Transfer to that account.

John_M

Quicken Mac does not have a payroll wizard. See this explanation on how to enter a paycheck so that your retirement account has a correct cash balance.

Note that in the explanation, there are two methods to do this – entering gross pay with all its associated deductions, or entering net pay with an adjustment in the retirement account to make the cash balance equal to zero. Neither is more correct than the other – it just depends on how detailed you want to be. However, in order to fully utilize the power of Quicken, you should consider the former approach.

volvogirl

So how have your contributions been entered into the account to use up the cash?  You need to have your paycheck deductions going to the retirement account.  Then when you download the buys from your plan it will buy the shares using the cash balance.  

larsoncjl

One account I have auto deposits made from checking. I only enter my net amount for my paycheck. If I itemize the paycheck, how will the investment account pick it up?

volvogirl

Oh yeah, you should be splitting up your paycheck by entering the gross amount and all the deductions.  A Mac user might have to help you.  You probably have a paycheck wizard.

in your checking account, how do you enter the auto payments to the investment account?  They should be a Transfer to that account.

NotACPA

larsoncjl said:

One account I have auto deposits made from checking. I only enter my net amount for my paycheck. If I itemize the paycheck, how will the investment account pick it up?

Via a transfer from the paycheck transaction to the retirement account.  In much the same vein that your taxes withheld would be expenses into appropriate accounts.

The Paycheck Wizard can help you to set up a paycheck with  the Gross pay, and all of the various deductions and transfers.

larsoncjl

Then how do I code the auto withdrawals from checking?

volvogirl

How are they coded or entered now?  To What category? They should be a TRANSFER to the retirement account.  Which will build up the cash balance.  Then when you buy shares it will reduce the balance.

John_M

Quicken Mac does not have a payroll wizard. See this explanation on how to enter a paycheck so that your retirement account has a correct cash balance.

Note that in the explanation, there are two methods to do this – entering gross pay with all its associated deductions, or entering net pay with an adjustment in the retirement account to make the cash balance equal to zero. Neither is more correct than the other – it just depends on how detailed you want to be. However, in order to fully utilize the power of Quicken, you should consider the former approach.

NotACPA

OOPS, I missed that this is a QMac thread.  And you've just brought to my attention another shortfall of QMac.

larsoncjl

I appreciate everyone’s response. It took me a while, but I added the transfers and splits. I know I can edit many entries at the same time, but I could not find how to split entries from several transactions at once.

Thanks again!