Looking for advice on how to handle Schwab 401k/PCRA accounts in Quicken

tspogue

I have a Schwab 401k retirement account as well as a Schwab Personal Choice Retirment Account (PCRA). The PCRA is a seperate account where I can buy/sell stocks etc and still have them inside of my 401k. Problem I have is...when I download each of them, it works very well into Quicken. When you look at the 401k account online at Schwab, it actually shows the PCRA account as a ticker symbol and you can see that you have money in there, just not a detail of where it went. So it would seem you just add the PCRA to Quicken and you are good....nope! When I add the PCRA to Quicken, I get the detail that I want, but now the two together shows the value of the PCRA twice....once in the 401k and the other as the PCRA. If I delete either one, I do not get the whole picture of my investments. I called Schwab, they have no idea how to manage and really not their concern. When I called Quicken, the fellow tried to help but went down the road that I need to call Schwab. Any ideas for me?

q_lurker

1)  Within Quicken, set the PCRA account as "Keep Separate".  Now I have not done that for any of my accounts, so I am unsure about other ramifications and nuances, but it might resolve your duplication adequately for net worth and similar.

2)  Regularly reprice the PCRA 'security' in the real 401k account at $0.  Share count would always match however that is being handled in the downloads, but value would not be duplicated.

Those would be my two off-the-top thoughts.

tspogue

Thanks for teh try:
#1 does not work for me as I need the individual stocks in this account and they do not appear in the 401 side...just a total there called "PCRA"

#2 I cannot change the share amount or cost inside of a brokerage account in Quicken as far as I can find.

Both good attempts....still cannot get it.

Tom Young

To clarify the situation:  You're saying that Schwab literally has two separate accounts setup, one for the 401(k) and the other for the PCRA, that's the way you've got the Accounts set up in Quicken, and downloading works fine for both Accounts?  That is the "PCRA" "security" is not included in the downloads to the 401(k)?  However, when you look at your 401(k) online the total dollar amount show for the 401(k) includes the dollar amount of securities inside the PCRA?

If I've got that right, I guess I'm not seeing any big issue; you mentally add the dollar amount in Quicken's PCRA Account to Quicken's 401(k) Account and that should match Schwab's balance.  Your net worth is properly presented in this situation.

If you want to have Quicken's 401(k) balance agree to Schwab's 401(k) balance then in your Quicken Accounts you have to mimic, more or less, what Schwab is doing.  The easiest way of doing that is to transfer "cash" in the amount of the current PCRA Account's balance from the PCRA Account to the 401(k) Account.  That zeros out the PCRA Account and brings the 401(k)'s Account balance in line with Schwab's presentation.

tspogue

Thanks Tom.

The PCRA account is a stand alone account and downloads all the detail just like any other broekrage account would.

The 401k account is another stand alone account and downloads just fine....BUT, it includes a security called "PCRA" that matches the above PCRA but does NOT have any detail.

Bottom line is that I would like the detail that the PCRA offers and omit the PCRA inside the 401k so my balances show up and are not doubled up on the PCRA amounts.

I am unable to simply change the 401k security cash or share balance....correct? If I could zero that out and change it each time I update quotes, I would have what I need.

Thanks again.

Tom Young

"I am unable to simply change the 401k security cash or share balance....correct?"

I don't see why not.  Simply "transfer" the correct amount of cash out of the PCRA Account and into the 401(k) Account.  The "overdrawn" situation in the PCRA Account should make that Account's balance $0 and result in an Account Balance in the 401(k) that combines the two Accounts.

What's still unclear to me is if the PCRA "security" shows up in Quicken or not.  You referenced looking at the 401(k) account "online" but it appears that it's NOT in the information downloaded from Schwab to the 401(k).

If that's really the case then the other way of approaching this could be to create a custom Portfolio view with only those two Accounts included, and then grouping by Security.  That would get all the detail holdings on those two Accounts showing in one screen.

tspogue

I am unclear on how to "transfer". I would need to transfer the dollar amount inside of my 401k that is in the security called "PCRA". If I could simply delete it, things would be perfect. So all I need to do is know how to make that PCRA securityinside of my at zero and things would be perfect. I think. :)

The PCRA does show up in Quicken. Think of the PCRA as a completely differnt account from my 401k with Schwab. Both download just fine. My total portfolio is overstated by showing the PCRA once as a standalone account and once more inside of the 401k as a seperate security.

Sorry this is so confusing....you have a lot of patience.

Thanks,

TP

Tom Young

If the problem is that the pseudo-security "PCRA" is actually contained inside Quicken's 401(k) Account AND you have a Quicken PCRA Account in your file then your net worth is clearly overstated.  Putting the PCRA Account in the "Separate" area will handle that problem or, when creating a net worth report you could simply leave the PCRA Account off. 

If the pseudo-security "PCRA" created by Schwab really is a "security" as viewed by Quicken - presumably it got into the Account through some sort of "Added" action since it clearly couldn't be "Bought" in the Account, then either doing a "Remove" action, or valuing the "security" at $0 would also eliminate the double counting.  (If you go the Remove route do a backup first and, after preparing your net worth report I'd delete the Remove action.)

If you want to see all your securities in the 401(k) Account and PCRA Account together in one place then a customized Portfolio View grouped by Security should do the trick.  If Quicken does see that pseudo-security as a real "security" then you could customize that particular Portfolio View to not include that particular security in that customized Portfolio View.

chanleyh

I have this exact same issue and just found this thread through a Google search. My "solution" is to update the price of the PCRA account to $0 each time there is a PCRA transaction downloaded (eg transfer in or out) the price is $1. You originally said you can't change the price. I can change the price by left clicking or right clicking on the PCRA "security" which will lead to a screen that will enable you to edit the price. I think that HAS to be an option no matter what version of Quicken you are using.

chanleyh

And to clarify, that is change the "price: of the PCRA security within my main Schwab retirement (or your 401(k)) account.

tspogue

chanleyh....sorry for the delay...got COVID and all good now. :) I am still not understanding how to zero out the PCRA. Here is what I am doing:

I go to the Investing tab and find the PCRA security. I click on that security and see a window that pops up which is called the "security Detail view. Do not see where I can edit the price?

Nicholas_G

I have exactly the same issue. Did you ever figure out a good solution?