Show Total Portfolio Value (Including Contributions)

jackhake

Hi All. I'm a new Quicken user and can't seem to figure this one out. I added a few investment accounts and they seem to show differently in Quicken.

Wealthfront
This brokerage doesn't support Direct Connect. However, they support Web Connect (with full history!). I downloaded the Quicken file and added it. The value shown in the side bar and the market value figure when looking at the account match the total value in this account as shown online. This is great.

Vanguard 401(k)
I used Direct Connect to sync my Vanguard 401(k). The value in the side bar and the market value figure shown when looking at the account seems to be the market value of the securities less cash (contributions?). Is there a way for Quicken to show the total market value of my 401(k) to match what I have with Wealthfront? For example, if I contributed $800 to my 401(k) but now its worth $1000 I'd like the side bar to show $1000. However, it would show $200 ($1000 - $800) in this example.

Thanks for the help.

jacobs

@jackhake  A negative cash balance in an investment account indicates you have shares that were purchased with cash, but the cash deposits into the account weren't entered.

In the Transactions register, do you see Payment/Deposit transactions with positive values? Where did the money come from for your security shares to be purchased? If you transferred cash from a checking or savings account, I'm guessing those transfers are missing. If the cash came from deductions from your paycheck, how were those deductions reflected in the split lines of your paycheck? Normally, what you'd want to see is that if you had $100 deducted from your pay for a 401k contribution, that would be a split line just like your tax withholdings; that split line would be a transfer to your 401k account -- and in your 401k account this would show up as a deposit with a positive (green) $100.

If you've just recorded your net pay in the past, you may want to make an adjustment entry to wipe out your 'cash deficit' in the4 401k account from the past. Going forward, you can set up your paycheck with all your deductions, and the investment account will take care of itself.

jacobs

jackhake said:

Update: I added a manual line item to true up my 401(k) account. I also will model my pay with splits going forward. However, how do other do this? Every check is always a little different due to taxes/deductions.

Here's an example of how to enter a paycheck transaction:



Record the transaction amount as your net pay, since this is what's deposited into your checking account. In the splits, start with your gross pay, which you want to capture for tax purposes. Then have split lines for each withholding from your paycheck -- taxes, healthcare, etc. Notice the second-to-last line in this example is a Transfer to a 401(k) account. If you have money withheld from your pay for such a plan, this is how to record it -- and in the 401(k) accost, this will provide the cash for your purchases of securities in the account.

Note that if your employer is also contributing to the 401(k), you will need to enter that cash into your 401(k) account as well. Since that's done in different ways -- some do it with each paycheck, some do it annually or at some other interval, I didn't include it in this example. The employer match is a little tricky, because it requires money to show up in your 401(k) account -- but where is it coming from? Well, it's a form of income, so you'll need an income sub-category for that. If you're doing it on each paycheck, most people do this by entering two offsetting splits: a positive amount using the  income sub-category for employer match, and a transfer of the same amount as a negative to the 401(k). If you just receive an annual/quarterly/monthly employer match deposit in your 401(k), then it wouldn't be part of your paycheck transactions; you could enter that directly in your 401(k) account as a deposit, with the income category for the employer match.

Once you set up your paycheck transaction, you can make it a scheduled transaction for every week or two weeks or whatever your pay interval is. And if you have minor variations from paycheck to paycheck, after marking the scheduled transaction paid, you just double-click it to make whatever edits are necessary to match your paycheck stub. 

Quicken_Tyka

Hello @jackhake

Thank you for taking the time to visit the Community to ask your question, although I apologize that you have not received a response.

I am not quite following what you are needing to see, so I have a few additional questions to help me better understand.

First, if you navigate to the "Portfolio" section of the account there should be a section for cash. The Market Value is the holdings in addition to the cash in the account.



If you do not see a section for cash in the portfolio view, it's possible that the account is missing the cash transactions and this is why you are seeing a discrepancy. 

It may also be helpful to include a screenshot of what you are seeing to better help the Community isolate the issue.

Thank you,
-Quicken Tyka

jacobs

@jackhake The sidebar should be showing the value of the investment account, just as you want, not just the cash balance.

Since you recently started, my first suspect would be a possible placeholder transaction in this account. Quicken inserts a placeholder when it doesn't have the data for the cost basis of your holdings. Open this account in your left sidebar, and scroll to the earliest date. If there is a gray transaction, that's a placeholder. You can update it, or delete it; you might need an opening Add Shares transaction to establish your holdings prior to what you've entered in Quicken.

jackhake

@Quicken_Tyka thank you for the reply! I do have a cash line item as you mentioned/shown. However, it's negative. If I can remove this negative Cash line item the reported figure would be correct. I'm guessing this negative Cash line item are my contributions to the account? I've attached a screenshot as requested.

@jacobs thank you for the reply! I do see two placeholders for Add Shares. I added a guesstimate for the cost basis of my shares. However, that didn't change the negative cash balance. It does seem this may be due to limited history. As noted in my original post my Wealthfront account exported all data and things seem to report fine.

jacobs

@jackhake  A negative cash balance in an investment account indicates you have shares that were purchased with cash, but the cash deposits into the account weren't entered.

In the Transactions register, do you see Payment/Deposit transactions with positive values? Where did the money come from for your security shares to be purchased? If you transferred cash from a checking or savings account, I'm guessing those transfers are missing. If the cash came from deductions from your paycheck, how were those deductions reflected in the split lines of your paycheck? Normally, what you'd want to see is that if you had $100 deducted from your pay for a 401k contribution, that would be a split line just like your tax withholdings; that split line would be a transfer to your 401k account -- and in your 401k account this would show up as a deposit with a positive (green) $100.

If you've just recorded your net pay in the past, you may want to make an adjustment entry to wipe out your 'cash deficit' in the4 401k account from the past. Going forward, you can set up your paycheck with all your deductions, and the investment account will take care of itself.

jackhake

@jacobs Thank you for the detailed reply. This is very helpful. Looking at the transactions pulled from Vanguard I only see Buy, Add Shares, Remove Shares. There are no cash deposits which is causing the issues as you noted. The deposits are from my paycheck. What is the best way to model this? The paycheck line item in my checking account is after all taxes and deductions. Do folks manually add in gross pay and model all deductions? Or is estimated gross pay added in the Bills & Income section?

jackhake

Update: I added a manual line item to true up my 401(k) account. I also will model my pay with splits going forward. However, how do other do this? Every check is always a little different due to taxes/deductions.

jacobs

jackhake said:

Update: I added a manual line item to true up my 401(k) account. I also will model my pay with splits going forward. However, how do other do this? Every check is always a little different due to taxes/deductions.

Here's an example of how to enter a paycheck transaction:



Record the transaction amount as your net pay, since this is what's deposited into your checking account. In the splits, start with your gross pay, which you want to capture for tax purposes. Then have split lines for each withholding from your paycheck -- taxes, healthcare, etc. Notice the second-to-last line in this example is a Transfer to a 401(k) account. If you have money withheld from your pay for such a plan, this is how to record it -- and in the 401(k) accost, this will provide the cash for your purchases of securities in the account.

Note that if your employer is also contributing to the 401(k), you will need to enter that cash into your 401(k) account as well. Since that's done in different ways -- some do it with each paycheck, some do it annually or at some other interval, I didn't include it in this example. The employer match is a little tricky, because it requires money to show up in your 401(k) account -- but where is it coming from? Well, it's a form of income, so you'll need an income sub-category for that. If you're doing it on each paycheck, most people do this by entering two offsetting splits: a positive amount using the  income sub-category for employer match, and a transfer of the same amount as a negative to the 401(k). If you just receive an annual/quarterly/monthly employer match deposit in your 401(k), then it wouldn't be part of your paycheck transactions; you could enter that directly in your 401(k) account as a deposit, with the income category for the employer match.

Once you set up your paycheck transaction, you can make it a scheduled transaction for every week or two weeks or whatever your pay interval is. And if you have minor variations from paycheck to paycheck, after marking the scheduled transaction paid, you just double-click it to make whatever edits are necessary to match your paycheck stub. 

jackhake

@jacobs Thank you for the help! I have created a split and can modify each paycheck as needed. I will also model employer contributions as you noted. Thank you!