Problem with Quicken investments

Dennis Mahoney

I am using the latest desktop version of Quicken H&B. At least one investment account shows negative cash values on the performance report for securities that I have sold. I also see indications of this in the investing activity report but not in the register i.e. it shows the sale in a normal fashion with 0 shares after the transaction. The two I have found are CGNX and GBTC. Can anyone suggest how to edit and correct the data to make the reports more meaningful?

Dennis Mahoney

Here's an update and I think I've got an answer. First off, I did try looking at performance on a yearly basis and there were not indications in the register for the period where the problem showed up. I may have mentioned that two of the stocks in my account had this problem: CGNX and GBTC. I decided to troubleshoot GBTC first since there were only three transactions: a buy, a split and a sell. I deleted them and reentered them and the problem went away.
I'll probably do something like this with CGNX: it paid and I reinvested dividends over a 4-5 year period but that wouldn't take too long to correct.
Thanks to all of you for your advice and assistance.

Frankx

Hi @Dennis Mahoney

Can you tell us exactly which "performance report" or reports you are looking at? And specifically where you are seeing "negative cash values"?  Any additional information will help us to sort this out.

Thanks.

Frankx

Jim_Harman

Are they negative by the amount of the sale, or by a few pennies, as might be caused by a rounding issue?

Jeff107

I'm having the same issue in several accounts. Best I can find/possible... Shares bought by exchanging from a sweep/money market fund are not showing up as a sell/buy or an exchange but as "bought." That causes a negative cash balance for the total cost of the purchase. It had only been happening in my Schwab account but now I found similar in another brokerage account.

Frankx

Hi @Jeff107

It sounds like the problem is simply that you are missing transactions.  I suggest that you compare the data being downloaded to the online account and/or your paper statements (if you have them) and that you enter the missing transactions manually to your account or accounts.

Frankx

Jeff107

Yes I can do it all automatically - however, that's kinda why I have Quicken in the first place. And between 1991 when I first started using quicken and now....it worked without manual intervention.

Frankx

Hi again @Jeff107

I understand that we all want to get our transactions downloaded flawlessly from our financial institutions all the time.  Unfortunately, that doesn't always happen and there may be various causes involved. 
 In this case, I believe the likely cause rests with the financial institution, or perhaps a lapse in the transactions provided by the financial institution. 

You could try to identify the cause by starting a new Quicken datafile and then adding just this one account to it, and finally downloading all transactions for this one account that are available (likely a couple of months of data).  That would tell you whether the problem is the bank's problem (i.e. it just isn't providing all data for downloading) or Quicken's problem (the data is not being processed properly), or user error (the data was there but something happened to it).

Let us know how that goes.

Frankx

Dennis Mahoney

Hi, thanks to all for responses. In answer to your questions and advice. If I'm making an obvious mistake I hope the information below will help.
1. I don't believe it is a rounding error; see below
2. The report with the issue is Investment Account Performance. It shows a balance today (12/30/2021) of -1,728.80 for CGNX but I believe is should be $0 (no shares owned).
3. According to the report when done yearly the value of the stock on 12/31/2020 is $6,105.16 and on 1/1/2021 it is $5,583.08. It I look at the share activity and price history for these two dates there is no change (markets closed).
4. According to the portfolio screen on 1/1/2021 the value is $7,311.88. Notice that $7,311.88-1,728.80 is $5583.08.
5. The attachment of the screenshot is the performance report for 2021.
6. The register when sorted by security shows the activity in the report is correct.
7. It seems to me that there is something in the data I cannot see. I am going to export to a csv file and reload in new account and see what happens. That should get rid of any invisible data.

Jim_Harman

The report shows you have sold 91.074 shares. How many shares did you have at the beginning of the year? The dividend of $5.46 on 3/21 is consistent with a holding of 91 shares.

I would change the ending date of the of the Performance Report to see when the data goes awry, then look in your account to see if there is a transaction that might explain it.

Also have you done a File > Validate and Repair? That might find a problem.

Dennis Mahoney

Here's an update and I think I've got an answer. First off, I did try looking at performance on a yearly basis and there were not indications in the register for the period where the problem showed up. I may have mentioned that two of the stocks in my account had this problem: CGNX and GBTC. I decided to troubleshoot GBTC first since there were only three transactions: a buy, a split and a sell. I deleted them and reentered them and the problem went away.
I'll probably do something like this with CGNX: it paid and I reinvested dividends over a 4-5 year period but that wouldn't take too long to correct.
Thanks to all of you for your advice and assistance.

q_lurker

I decided to troubleshoot GBTC first since there were only three transactions: a buy, a split and a sell. I deleted them and reentered them and the problem went away.

I would generally expect the problem to have been with only one of those transactions, and my first guess would be the sale..  As you attack the second holding, I would start deleting and re-entering first with any sales, then with any true buys, and finally with the reinvested dividends.  You may not need to delete and re-enter all.    

It is worth noting how you are managing lot specifications for any sales.  If you are relying on Quicken's default FIFO, there may not be any issue.  But if you have specified lots (likely for minimum gains) then as you delete and re-enter, you will want to cross-check that the correct lots continue to be sold at the correct times.