Want to keep all years expenses & transfers for brokerage account but reset value and positions

bk4

So I've got my stock and bond positions hopelessly messed up. The program is constantly asking me questions I do not understand every time I download transactions like is this average cost. Now it totally deviates from what Fidelity says. I don't need Quicken to record every 3 cent interest or dividend but I do need it to categorize any spending out of the account or transfers to credit cards or checking. I just need it to reflect the current cash, stock and bond values as shown at Fidelity.

Boatnmaniac

It sounds like you might want to consider making the following changes to your Fidelity account in Quicken:  Have cash held in a separate Checking account and have Simple Investing set up instead of Complete Investing.  Before you proceed I strongly recommend you back up your data file before proceeding in case something goes wrong or you don't like the results.:

1. Account Register > upper right Gear icon > Edit Account Details > General tab > select "Yes" for Show Cash in a Checking Account > OK.
2. When the process for #1 is completed:  Account Register > upper right Gear icon > Edit Account Details > General tab > under Tracking select "Simple - Positions Only" > OK.

After making these changes:

• All cash related transactions in the investment account will now show up in a Checking account that will be shown in the Accounts Bar on the left in the same section as other checking accounts.  The default Quicken naming of the account will be the name of your investment account followed with "-Cash"...for example, "Fidelity Brokerage-Cash".  
  
• In the Checking account register historical investment-related cash transactions (such as Interest, Dividends, Buys and Sells of securities, etc) as well any payments and external transfers you had previously recorded will be shown there.  Going forward the investment-related cash transactions will no longer be reported there but any payments,deposits and cash transfers into and out of the account will be shown there.
• If the cash in the Checking account is out of balance you can do a reconciliation to make a balance adjustment transaction:  Upper righter Gear icon > Reconcile.
  
• The Investment Account register will go away and be replaced with a dashboard showing shares held, price, value and daily change (on days the market is open) of each security.  It will also show security allocations, Top Movers (on days the market is open) and Value Over Time.
• The Investment Account will not longer track individual investment transactions going forward after Simple Investing is cut in (but pre-Simple Investing historical transaction data can still be recovered).
• Quicken will automatically make adjustments to the number of securities by entering Add Shares or Remove Shares transactions as appropriate.  So, no shares reconciliation effort on your part will be needed.
  

I do want to emphasize that if you feel you need to see investment transactions then this is not going to be a good option for you.  You will lose your ability to see and track them.

If you back up your data file you can make these changes to see if they give you what you want to see. Then if you do not like it you can restore your backup file and everything will be like it was before you implemented these changes.

Does this sound like what you are looking for?

Jim_Harman

The question about Average cost appears when you sell some of the shares of a mutual fund that you hold. If you have multiple tax lots and are only selling part of your holding, Quicken wants to know which shares you sold. If you click through the defaults, it will use the First In First Out (FIFO) method. There is also an option to have it skip this question and use either FIFO or LIFO. This is at Edit > Preferences > Downloaded Transactions > Lot assignment after download.

One thing you can do make your share balances match Fidelity's is to click on the gear menu at the top right of the account and choose Reconcile Shares. Quicken will compare your current holdings to those reported by Fidelity and show any discrepancies.

If you really just care about the balances and don't need Quicken to track your performance, dividends, interest, or capital gains, you can click on Details and let let Quicken add Placeholder transactions to correct the discrepancies.

If you have the time and inclination later on to correct the old transactions, you can resolve and delete the Placeholders. 

To correct the cash balance, you can click the gear and select Update cash balance. This will enter a Cash Balance Adjustment, which you can also resolve later on if you want.

Boatnmaniac

It sounds like you might want to consider making the following changes to your Fidelity account in Quicken:  Have cash held in a separate Checking account and have Simple Investing set up instead of Complete Investing.  Before you proceed I strongly recommend you back up your data file before proceeding in case something goes wrong or you don't like the results.:

1. Account Register > upper right Gear icon > Edit Account Details > General tab > select "Yes" for Show Cash in a Checking Account > OK.
2. When the process for #1 is completed:  Account Register > upper right Gear icon > Edit Account Details > General tab > under Tracking select "Simple - Positions Only" > OK.

After making these changes:

• All cash related transactions in the investment account will now show up in a Checking account that will be shown in the Accounts Bar on the left in the same section as other checking accounts.  The default Quicken naming of the account will be the name of your investment account followed with "-Cash"...for example, "Fidelity Brokerage-Cash".  
  
• In the Checking account register historical investment-related cash transactions (such as Interest, Dividends, Buys and Sells of securities, etc) as well any payments and external transfers you had previously recorded will be shown there.  Going forward the investment-related cash transactions will no longer be reported there but any payments,deposits and cash transfers into and out of the account will be shown there.
• If the cash in the Checking account is out of balance you can do a reconciliation to make a balance adjustment transaction:  Upper righter Gear icon > Reconcile.
  
• The Investment Account register will go away and be replaced with a dashboard showing shares held, price, value and daily change (on days the market is open) of each security.  It will also show security allocations, Top Movers (on days the market is open) and Value Over Time.
• The Investment Account will not longer track individual investment transactions going forward after Simple Investing is cut in (but pre-Simple Investing historical transaction data can still be recovered).
• Quicken will automatically make adjustments to the number of securities by entering Add Shares or Remove Shares transactions as appropriate.  So, no shares reconciliation effort on your part will be needed.
  

I do want to emphasize that if you feel you need to see investment transactions then this is not going to be a good option for you.  You will lose your ability to see and track them.

If you back up your data file you can make these changes to see if they give you what you want to see. Then if you do not like it you can restore your backup file and everything will be like it was before you implemented these changes.

Does this sound like what you are looking for?

Jim_Harman

The question about Average cost appears when you sell some of the shares of a mutual fund that you hold. If you have multiple tax lots and are only selling part of your holding, Quicken wants to know which shares you sold. If you click through the defaults, it will use the First In First Out (FIFO) method. There is also an option to have it skip this question and use either FIFO or LIFO. This is at Edit > Preferences > Downloaded Transactions > Lot assignment after download.

One thing you can do make your share balances match Fidelity's is to click on the gear menu at the top right of the account and choose Reconcile Shares. Quicken will compare your current holdings to those reported by Fidelity and show any discrepancies.

If you really just care about the balances and don't need Quicken to track your performance, dividends, interest, or capital gains, you can click on Details and let let Quicken add Placeholder transactions to correct the discrepancies.

If you have the time and inclination later on to correct the old transactions, you can resolve and delete the Placeholders. 

To correct the cash balance, you can click the gear and select Update cash balance. This will enter a Cash Balance Adjustment, which you can also resolve later on if you want.

bk4

Thak you both for these great suggestions. I will make back ups and delve into these fixes