Track investments in simple ledger?

Suzanne K

I've been using Quicken for 16 years. I used to track my investments in simple ledger accounts resembling a check register, and that is how I prefer to do it. All I want to do is post changes in value per the quarterly statement. But newer updates to Quicken seem only to permit elaborate displays that don't suit me. Is there any way to set up a simple tracking ledger for an investment? I don't want the investment account to appear under Banking or Property.

Chris_QPW

You can get a Savings account to be displayed under Investments or Retirement by going into the Account Details -> Display Options and selecting the Account intent.

You might also opt for the new "Simple Investing".


And then in the account:


With this Quicken will only track the number of shares/value and cash and the register is hidden and graphs are shown instead like this.

Jim_Harman

Quicken recently added support for "Simple" investing, which tracks positions only, rather than the full transaction-by-transaction tracking Quicken normally does.

With this mode enabled, the appearance of an investing account is like the Investing Dashboard rather than a transaction list (register). Note that in this mode, you lose the ability to track investment income and gains and losses.

To enable Simple mode, go to Edit > Preferences > Investment Transactions and check the Enable Simple Investing box. Then you can turn on Simple mode for an account by selecting Simple - Positions only on the Account Details page.  

Back up your data file before trying this. It may be difficult to switch back and reconstruct any missing data if you don't like it.

Jim_Harman

Or maybe we are misunderstanding your request. Can you describe what the rows and columns "simple tracking ledger" would be?

Perhaps the Account Balances report with Account detail selected on the Display tab and the Interval set to Quarter.would do the job.

Suzanne K

Thank you, Chris and Jim for your rapid and helpful responses. Chris's first suggestion was exactly what I was looking for. I just created several savings accounts and changed their purpose to retirement. Now I have what I need--simple transaction ledgers in the investing section of my account bar. Again, thank you both!