Why is Quicken Giving Me the Wrong Information

neil154

Below is a snapshot of myquicken screen for 1 security.  The information totals are not accurate is some cases and need to get it fixed, would appreciate your comments. I have already do a Super Validate with no changes and everything was correct according to Quicken

q_lurker

neil154 said:

You are correct, I apparently owned shares back in 2015, so that should resolve the issue. 

Does that resolve the $122.53 discrepancy?  If you bought and sold all back in 2015, the cost basis SHOULD have gone to $0.  Were you able to track down and resolve that portion?

I now have another question.  I owned the shares in the same account, so why when I viewed the portfolio for XLF and then clicked on show closed lots do not all of the transactions how up (only the sells showed up.  How am I am able to view every transaction in XLF (I know the register would have them but without the kind of data analysis that the portfolio view shows.

What "all transactions" are you expecting?  What sort of "data analysis" are you after?  

I am biased toward the Average Annual Return parameters available through the portfolio views or with the Investment Performance Report.  Average Annual Return can be misleading for securities that have only been held a short time since their performance is annualized (extrapolated to a full year).  Average Annual Return considers all 'Return' on the security (div, realized gain/loss, unrealized gain/loss, etc.) for the period chosen even if those specific transactions do not get itemized as line items.

Jim_Harman

Your cost basis is high by about $123 and that is reflected in the Gain/Loss column. You will have to review your purchases and sales if any and find the discrepancies. If there have been sales, make sure the lots sold in Quicken match your broker's records.

neil154

All of the purchases are shown correctly and there were no sales.  Many of the columns show wrong amounts.

Jim_Harman

Perhaps there is a Placeholder that is messing up the totals. Go to Edit > Preferences > Investments 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. This is usually the share count downloaded from your financial institution (FI).

Please let us know if this is the case.

neil154

Hidden transactions is checked

Jim_Harman

... and there are no Placeholders for this security? You can usually get a count of the number of Placeholders in the account by looking at the number next to Placeholder Entries below the last transaction in the Transaction List.

neil154

I finally figured out what you were asking about the Placeholder and the account is showing zero placeholders

q_lurker

neil154 said:

All of the purchases are shown correctly and there were no sales.  ... 

Are you saying you did not own shares of XLF previous to April 2022 that were sold?  Nor did you sell any part of the 3 lots shown?  Your data shows symptoms that on 4/4/22 (before the 4/5/22 lot was bought) you might have had an incorrect residual basis of $122.53 that has been carried over to your current lots.  If you change the As-of date for that portfolio view and set your Options (gear icon) for the view to include closed lots, you might see that value.  You would then need to track down some prior sale to be deleted and re-entered.  It is also possible that a sale after 4/5/22 led to the discrepancy.

The fact that the Return value is also differs from your expectation supports that conjecture.  "Return" considers sold lots as well as current holdings.  The Return value is also subject to the start date set under the Options / Portfolio Preferences.  That too could be a factor as to what you are seeing.

neil154

You are correct, I apparently owned shares back in 2015, so that should resolve the issue.  I now have another question.  I owned the shares in the same account, so why when I viewed the portfolio for XLF and then clicked on show closed lots do not all of the transactions how up (only the sells showed up.  How am I am able to view every transaction in XLF (I know the reqister would have them but without the kind of data analysis that the portfolio view shows.

q_lurker

neil154 said:

You are correct, I apparently owned shares back in 2015, so that should resolve the issue. 

Does that resolve the $122.53 discrepancy?  If you bought and sold all back in 2015, the cost basis SHOULD have gone to $0.  Were you able to track down and resolve that portion?

I now have another question.  I owned the shares in the same account, so why when I viewed the portfolio for XLF and then clicked on show closed lots do not all of the transactions how up (only the sells showed up.  How am I am able to view every transaction in XLF (I know the register would have them but without the kind of data analysis that the portfolio view shows.

What "all transactions" are you expecting?  What sort of "data analysis" are you after?  

I am biased toward the Average Annual Return parameters available through the portfolio views or with the Investment Performance Report.  Average Annual Return can be misleading for securities that have only been held a short time since their performance is annualized (extrapolated to a full year).  Average Annual Return considers all 'Return' on the security (div, realized gain/loss, unrealized gain/loss, etc.) for the period chosen even if those specific transactions do not get itemized as line items.

neil154

Thanks for the help, the $122.53 shows in the prior transactions