Can I update over-stated Cash Balance(s)???

jah47Ed

I click on Investing (blue tool bar) - then Portfolio, which opens and I look at the Cash (Balance) at the bottom of the Portfolio. Overstated! (Wish I did have this cash balance!). I think they represent "legacy" cash balance amounts from when I first started using Quicken and downloaded my port from "Fido". I've never found a way to correct/update. Under "Banking", when I open a Portfolio, there the Cash (lower RH corner) amount is correct. Weird!? `This does not impact day to day activities - it just looks bad - "bad form". Quicken Developers - are your reading this question...

Jim_Harman

At the top of the Investing Portfolio view, click on the arrow next to Group by and pick 
Accounts. You will see the Cash in each account at the bottom of the account's section.

From there you can go to the account(s) with incorrect balances and investigate further.

Often a cash balance that is higher than it should be is caused by securities that were Added to the account rather than Bought. 

Jim_Harman

At the top of the Investing Portfolio view, click on the arrow next to Group by and pick 
Accounts. You will see the Cash in each account at the bottom of the account's section.

From there you can go to the account(s) with incorrect balances and investigate further.

Often a cash balance that is higher than it should be is caused by securities that were Added to the account rather than Bought. 

jah47Ed

"Been there..done that" for the first three paragraphs. I think, Jim, your last paragraph is what happened. The first (initial) download of investments from "Fido" seem to have been Added. Still, you'd think there would be a way to correct / update.

Jim_Harman

You should be able to edit the Added transactions to make them Bought's. Back up your data file first in case the result is not what you expected.

If Quicken will not let you edit the transactions, there are probable Placeholders in your file that are preventing it. Go to Edit > Preferences > Investing transactions and make sure Show hidden transactions is checked, then resolve the placeholders. If they are for 0 shares, you can safely delete them.

jah47Ed

Years of "Fido" transactions have now been archived. I am afraid that their "legacy" of Added transactions and Cash Balances still exists. I resolved all place holders - I have not seen one in years. I'll try your suggestion in your second paragraph - just to check. Thanks again...

Jim_Harman

If you just want to fix the cash balance without resolving the original problem(s), you can click the gear at the top right of the account and select Update Cash Balance.

This will create a self-referencing Xin or Xout transaction that makes cash appear or disappear from the account. This will affect performance calculations for periods that include the adjustment date. 

jah47Ed

I went to Edit>Preferences>Investing Transactions and checked off "Show Hidden Transactions". Nothing - not report was generated. I guess that is good?? Now, your second fix, "Update Cash Balance" - that works for current Cash Balance - I have tried this approach and it does not seem to affect old Cash Balance - still overstated. Current Cash Balance is correct in each individual portfolio that I see listed under "Banking".

Jim_Harman

Show hidden transactions does not produce a report. Go to the account's transaction list (register) and look for transactions that have a gray background even if not selected and "Entry" in the Action column.

Also at the bottom of the transaction list, you should see "Placeholder Entries" with a number next to it. This usually says how many Placeholders there are. If you click on the words, it will show a list of the Placeholders and you can click on Enter History to go directly to the entry. 

See
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7267839/quicken-faq-managing-placeholder-entries-in-quicken-for-windows

for more info on resolving placeholders.

Jim_Harman

What do you mean when you say "portfolio listed under Banking"?  These are investing accounts.

jah47Ed

My error. There will be one or more accounts (portfolios) listed under Investing

jah47Ed

I looked at my Investing Accounts - transactions list - all show Placeholder Entries (0).
I found one way to "fix" overstated cash balances. Open up the desired investment account transaction list, sort by Action and take a look at all of the XIn activity. Do a Xout input (entry) - I used a old year, like 2015, and transfer out the incorrect balance minus the current correct (Fidelity's reported) cash balance. I had quite a few (from 2013 to 2015) XIn - "update cash balance" inputs/entries. The Xout entry to adjust to correct - current - cash balance seems to give me what I wanted. It might have been better to date the Xout entry to say, end of December 2020. I just chose a past year. Thanks for the feedback.