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Updating 529 Plan Quarterly Using Custom Made Securities

James J

After a few years of having these plans (we have plans that do not provide data for Quicken to ingest) and trying to track them as purely cash accounts, I finally settled on a way to track them as securities.

I'd love any feedback on this.

One bug I discovered, is that when I "Update Share Balance" in the brokerage accounts created for the 529 plans, Quicken often fails to auto-populate the name of the custom-made securities. For example, one of my custom-made securities is "529, Total Bond Market Index". So when I type "529, Total B", then Quicken should be auto-populate the remainder of the security name - but it doesn't. Also, if I use the drop down arrow on that same "Adjust Share Balance" modal, I do not see all three of my custom-made securities. There's some glitch there.

Anybody do anything different to track the 529s, or see any problems with what I'm doing?

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Tom Young

The only thing I see that's odd about your security name is that comma. Maybe that's the source of the problem?

We have one 529 plan in our file, an account managed by Vanguard. Vanguard doesn't provided for download of transactions for the plan and creates a "custom" security for the plan that's a combination of a couple of their mutual funds. I simply use the name Vanguard has created as the security in the Account, (there are no commas in the name), and Quicken finds that "security" without any issue.

We are in the funding stage of the account and I've scheduled automatic contributions for a fixed amount. I have these contributions set up as Reminders, scheduled to enter the Quicken checking Account a month or so before the actual transaction date. I keep the 529 plan in a separate Quicken file so the checking Account offset for the contribution goes to a gifts Category.

Once the contribution occurs - signaled by a "Match" to the transaction in a One Step Update of the checking Account - I open the 529 file and record the contribution and subsequent Buy over there. While I'm in that Account I update the quotes for the custom security, manually of course, for each month end since the last Buy.

James J

Tom Young said:

The only thing I see that's odd about your security name is that comma. Maybe that's the source of the problem?
We have one 529 plan in our file, an account managed by Vanguard. Vanguard doesn't provided for download of transactions for the plan and creates a "custom" security for the plan that's a combination of a couple of their mutual funds. I simply use the name Vanguard has created as the security in the Account, (there are no commas in the name), and Quicken finds that "security" without any issue.
We are in the funding stage of the account and I've scheduled automatic contributions for a fixed amount. I have these contributions set up as Reminders, scheduled to enter the Quicken checking Account a month or so before the actual transaction date. I keep the 529 plan in a separate Quicken file so the checking Account offset for the contribution goes to a gifts Category.
Once the contribution occurs - signaled by a "Match" to the transaction in a One Step Update of the checking Account - I open the 529 file and record the contribution and subsequent Buy over there. While I'm in that Account I update the quotes for the custom security, manually of course, for each month end since the last Buy.

@Tom Young just to clarify, the custom-made security name and ticker was created by Vanguard, is that correct?

We're also about 10 years before we'd need to touch either 529. We make monthly contributions but also yearly when there's money. We have each 529 in the main Quicken file and when we make a contribution, I make a "transfer" in Quicken from the checking account to the 529 account. This goes into the latter as cash. Then quarterly, I rectify the account by adjusting the share price and cash balance as shown in the above PDF. One downside to the way I'm doing it, is that I cannot use Quicken to track the IRR and cost basis of the 529 plans because Quicken does not know the NAV on the days I make contributions. Quicken only knows the NAV at the end of each quarter. In order to track my cost basis in Quicken, every time I make a contribution to a 529 plan, I'd have to first transfer the money in Quicken as cash from the checking to the 529 brokerage account. Then I'd have to record a purchase in the 529 account of the appropriate securities and I'd have to look up the NAV for that specific day. I might even start doing that, not sure. It's not like I'm making frequent contributions . . .

Let me remove the commas and see if that changes things, in my custom-made securities.

My 529 is also completely manual since the custodian does not provide any downloads. My setup is perhaps identical to yours and I too have a comma in one security name but not all. I am not experiencing the challenge you described as it immediately auto-populates when I type "529," or without typing the comma it shows the full list of all 529s. Very odd.

What release are you on? Is this a recent issue or have you experienced it across multiple release updates?

This is how I created my account:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6031128/uploads/editor/3g/wl02b364fxnt.jpg

James J

BK said:

My 529 is also completely manual since the custodian does not provide any downloads. My setup is perhaps identical to yours and I too have a comma in one security name but not all. I am not experiencing the challenge you described as it immediately auto-populates when I type "529," or without typing the comma it shows the full list of all 529s. Very odd.
What release are you on? Is this a recent issue or have you experienced it across multiple release updates?
This is how I created my account:

This is where I'm having the issue of Quicken not properly auto-completing the custom-made security names:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6031128/uploads/editor/mf/e59qpzze51du.png

I am on Quicken Premier.

Version: R41.19

Build: 27.1.41.19

Windows 11 Home

I only started maintaining the 529 in this way fairly recently, over the past few months. So it's been an issue since then.

James J

I did try removing the commas from both the names and ticket symbols of the custom securities, but they still are not showing in the modal when I try to update share balances.

All three custom securities, on the other hand, do show when i display the entire securities list using Ctrl+Y

@James J , Sorry, don't know what to tell you as it works on my end, on both, an older and the latest release of Quicken. This one is above my pay grade and hopefully one of the superusers can figure it out.

This is what I would do if it were me: I'd create a new blank Quicken test file, add a manual 529 account and a few custom securities and compare the behaviors between the two files.

Tom Young

@James J

"@Tom Young just to clarify, the custom-made security name and ticker was created by Vanguard, is that correct?"

The name for the "security" certainly was provided by Vanguard but they have not provided a ticker of any sort. Offhand I wouldn't think that having custom non-existent tickers would cause your problem, but it might.

@BK's suggestion here is a good one and if your security names and tickers work in the test file then the problem might be "local" to your live file and validation or super validation might fix things. But if they don't work - you see the same problem - then a simple no-comma, no ticker approach would be the next thing to try.

James J

I'll try doing that with a fresh, test file. I see all three custom-made securities in every other comprehensive list, but just not from that "Adjust Share Balance" modal. It must be my file.

q_lurker

Make sure your Security has "Security Type" set as something other than "Market Index". If set as "Market Index", it may prevent it from appearing as a security option.

@James J ,

Is the "Adjust Share Balance" modal population issue isolated to only that 529 account or other investment accounts as well? We should've asked this question much earlier!

[P.S. Make sure to backup your file before making any changes.]

James J

q_lurker said:

Make sure your Security has "Security Type" set as something other than "Market Index". If set as "Market Index", it may prevent it from appearing as a security option.

Everyone take cover cause creepy Lurker just dropped a knowledge bommmmmmmmmmbbbbbbb!!!

BOOM

Yes that did the trick! I did have the "Security Type" set as "market index" for two of my custom-made securities. Changing them to "stock" and "bond" fixed the issue.

Computers are funny. They are very literal.

Thanks!

James J

BK said:

@James J ,
Is the "Adjust Share Balance" modal population issue isolated to only that 529 account or other investment accounts as well? We should've asked this question much earlier!
[P.S. Make sure to backup your file before making any changes.]

It was happening to both of the 529 accounts.

James J said:

Everyone take cover cause creepy Lurker just dropped a knowledge bommmmmmmmmmbbbbbbb!!!

Like I wrote earlier - SuperUsers to the rescue. I have learned soooo much from these folks.

q_lurker

Market Index securities are not intended to be bought, sold, or otherwise owned. Thus Quicken frequently (always?) omits them from lists such as yours. Market Index securities are intended for Dow Jones, S&P500, and similar broad based measures.