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529 account tracking - cash balance issue

Chiquito

I'm tracking my grandson's 529 account by transferring my monthly contributions from my investment account to the 529 account. Every month I "buy" the corresponding number of shares as reported in the statement with the existing balance. This balance becomes zero until next month's transfer and it promptly becomes zero again. After the new update(s) the monthly deposit is accumulating even though the shares should have been bought with the existing cash in the account.
How do I fix this problem

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Jim_Harman

Aha! That is a long time in the future!

I think if you delete that Placeholder it will let you enter Bought transactions with the normal cash source.

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Tom Young

First, specify what update you're on. Since Quicken now trickles out new updates as "staged releases" it's impossible to know what release any particular user is on unless they tell us.

The passive voice " the monthly deposit is accumulating even though the shares should have been bought with the existing cash in the account" suggests to me that you are not making manual entries to the Account for Buys but are instead depending on downloads to make that entry for you.

Is the problem that the Buys are not being downloaded, or that Buys are showing up in the Account - either through downloads or your manual entries - and are not affecting the cash balance?

Chiquito

Thanks, Tom. I subscribe to Q so I get the updates as they come and I download them when available. So, I am up to date. I am using Quicken Premier R37.66 Build 27.1.37.66
I'll try to be as specific as I can to illustrate the problem. I created a separate account (Julian's) to track the invested amounts and created a security (XYZ) to track its performance. Every month I transfer $300 from my investment account to Julian's account. Following the transfer I manually enter a purchase of XYZ based on the statement report that gives me the number of shares and the price. Up until November of 2021, every purchase deducted the 300 from the cash in the account. Since then this has not been the case, and the cash balance is accumulating. So, after the last 3 purchases the cash balance is 900. The number of shares in the holdings tab is correct.
I hope this helps you help me.
Thanks so very much
Jorge

Chiquito

Here is a screen shot of the registry. I hope this helps.

Screenshot (1).png

Jim_Harman

If there is a Placeholder in the account at a later date, it will prevent transactions from affecting the cash balance.

Also when you make the Buy, make sure you choose "From this account's cash balance" as the cash source. If that is not an option, look again for Placeholders.

Chiquito

Thanks Jim. There is no placeholder entry. The "Enter Transaction" tab defaults to "purchase with available cash" I am attaching a screenshot.

Screenshot (2).png

Jim_Harman

See those N/A's? It sure looks like you have a Placeholder, but it may be hidden.

To make placeholders visible, go to Edit > Preferences > Investment Transactions and make sure the Show hidden transactions box is checked.

Placeholders will have a gray background in the account’s transaction list (register) even if they are not selected, and will have “Entry” in the Action column.

Placeholders compensate for missing or incorrect investing transactions by forcing Quicken’s share balance for a security to match a specified value.

Placeholders also prevent new transactions like Bought and Sold prior to the Placeholder date from affecting the account’s cash balance. This shows up as N/A in the Cash Amt column of the transaction list.

Tom Young

Even though the Account itself is telling you that there are no placeholders, that "N/A" that shows up 11/6 and subsequently says that there are placeholders in the Account. Do an Edit > Preferences > Investment transactions and make sure "Show hidden transactions" is ticked.

This problem is showing all the earmarks of being a placeholder issue.

Chiquito

Tom and Jim: I did as instructed and look what appeared. Check the bottom of the screen shot and look at the dates and the number of shares! I am not sure why this is there but I know that I am still resolving issues following the updates. I've been a user of Q for a very long time and I am very careful with entries, This is not some error I made.

Screenshot (4).png

Jim_Harman

Aha! That is a long time in the future!

I think if you delete that Placeholder it will let you enter Bought transactions with the normal cash source.

Chiquito

Thanks so very much. After I deleted the placeholder entry three new transactions appeared in the register. I deleted those and voila it is now fixed and the cash balance is zero.
Since you guys are a "brain" I have a new problem:
A ball and a bat cost $1.10 in total. The bat cost $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?
Enjoy and thank you again!
Jorge