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How do I manage a Fidelity Cash Management Account like it's a checking account?

KC Smythe

I opened this account to use it, for now, like a checking account, with bill-pay, ATM, etc. It is NOT linked to any kind of Fidelity brokerage account, though I do receive a pension administered by FidelityNetBenefits, which will be deposited into this account every month. I have added the CMA in Quicken and successfully downloaded the opening transactions. Fidelity offers tips for managing the account in Quicken by checking a box in Account Details "Show cash in a checking account," which apparently pertains only to Windows and not Mac. I searched this forum and did not see a workaround for Mac other than to configure the register so it looks like a checking account. However, this doesn't seem to work for manually entering new transactions that will happen in the future and are not yet reflected on Fidelity's end. It the Transaction register, when I click "new", I get a securities transaction dialog that doesn't let me enter data according to my register configuration (see attachment). Please share any tips on how to manage this like the checking account that it represents to me.

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Accepted answers

jacobs

Action is a column you can optionally display in any register. But for some reason, you have hidden the Type column in your register. Type is where you specify, for investments, activities like Buy, Sell, Interest Income, Reinvest Dividend, etc. And the last item in the drop-down list of Types is Payment/Deposit, as shown here:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6031128/uploads/editor/a0/tysghc744ivd.png

A Payment/Deposit transaction is functionally the same as a transaction in any banking account like checking or credit card.

To display additional fields and/or hide others, click the Columns icon on the bottom toolbar on the far right. Check Type. You can uncheck Action if you don't expressly use that field (it's optional).

I see you have Cash Out, Cash In, and Amount columns. Usually you would use either Cash Out and Cash In or Amount, but not both -- they show the same data: Cash Out and Cash in makes everything a positive number in the appropriate column, where Amount shows positive or negative values in a single column. I prefer Cash In and Out, but many people prefer to save space with the single Amount column. There's no problem having all three showing, but since it duplicates data, eliminating one or the other can save space on your screen. If you write checks from this account, you may want to add the Check # column.

KC Smythe

Aha! Thanks!

All comments

jacobs

You're correct that Quicken Mac does not have a separate setting for cash in an investment account -- but you can do it without any special setting. The simple trick, which is not obvious, is that when you click New to enter a transaction, all non-investment transactions must have the Type field set to Payment/Deposit. As soon as you select that transaction Type, all the regular checking account columns become available to you: Payee, Category, Memo, Amount and, if you've make them visible, other columns such as Check Number or Tags.

KC Smythe

I see no Type field. What I see is what is in the screen shot with the original question.

jacobs

KC Smythe

Aha! Thanks!

bobluck

Thanks for all the suggestions, but the obvious has been missed. All the reporting for spending only works from a spending account...ie checking/credit. All of my deposits/withdrawals from the Fidelity Cash management account are not included in reporting and graphs making the software basically useless.

jacobs

@bobluck It's incorrect to say that income and expenses in investment accounts are not included in reports; they are. So we need to dig into how your account and transactions are recorded.

In a test file, I created an income transaction and an expense transaction in an investment account:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6031128/uploads/editor/dq/xp8ayhfgnjk2.png

Here's a Category report of this time period, showing that both of these transactions are include in the report:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6031128/uploads/editor/l1/kw5am3v4j91s.png

For starters: is it correct assuming your account is not defined as any type of retirement account?

Next, are you recording expenses as Payment/Deposit transactions?

You mention expenses not being in graphs. There are no graphs for reports, so I'm curious what you're referring to. On banking accounts, there are separate Spending and Income tabs which have a single pie chart; those don't exist in investment accounts -- but as noted above, that doesn't prevent income and expenses from showing up in reports.