Is there an Action code for Management Fees?

SJinTX

I use the Quicken for Windows subscription product, and I don't see an Action code for Investment Fees deducted from my investment account. The closest thing to me is the Action code for Margin Interest, but IDK what the implications are for my account of using that one. The Cash balance in my account differs from my statement amount by the fees charged to my account. It's an investment account which holds various ETFs. Can anybody help?

Jim_Harman

The best way to enter management fees is to Sell securities if necessary then use a MiscExp to withdraw the fees with an appropriate Category.

If you want the fees to reduce the performance of the account, edit the category in the Category list and  
check the "Affects investment performance" box.
.

SJinTX

I track this account pretty closely, and to sell one (or more) securities would put me out of balance with the Shares Held. Is there any drawback to using the Margin Interest expense Action code?

q_lurker

They take their fee in either shares or cash. 

If they take the shares, I would treat that as selling the shares and MiscExp the cash as the fee payment. 

If they take the cash directly, they (and you) likely need to sell something to have the cash for them to take. They could be taking cash from your contributions at some level instead. 

Either way, it works out the same as far as Quicken is concerned. 

Margin interest is a different animal and using that could produce unintended consequences. 

Rocket J Squirrel

This discussion (which I don't mean to hijack) reminds me of the old Transaction Fees dialog. I have always wondered whether even one user ever found use for this apparently useless dialog.

Tom Young

SJinTX said:

I track this account pretty closely, and to sell one (or more) securities would put me out of balance with the Shares Held.   Is there any drawback to using the Margin Interest expense Action code?

Based on what you've said here it sounds like the fee is being taken out of cash that's already in the account.  So simply expense the fee using the MiscExp action as explained by @Jim_Harman.  There's nothing inherently wrong with using the Margin Interest action except that the expense isn't margin interest it's a management fee.  As long as you never actually incur margin interest in the account and mentally read any "margin interest" expense as "management fee", you could do that.