How do I record selling shares of mutual fund (A) & buying shares of mutual fund (B)?

jarhtmd

I'm using QW2007. I know it's OLD, but so am I. I'm not an accountant and don't know "tricks of the trade". My use of Quicken began simply (in DOS) with only a checking account and has grown over the years to include mutual funds, IRAs (& RMDs), Roth IRA, inherited IRAs and a couple of stocks. I do everything manually w/o any online stuff.

Quicken won't allow me to record (A) directly to (B). So, I've been using "fake" transactions from (A) to checking account (C) to (B). That works, even if taxes are withheld, but it doesn't show what actually happened, and can sometimes get confusing (to me) . . . especially, if multiple accounts, RMDs, etc are involved.

Is there a simpler, more straight forward way?

Jim_Harman

Normally you would record a Sell in the account where the old security is held, with the cash from the proceeds going to that account. Then you would use the cash to Buy the new security. 

But if you have the account set up as a "Single mutual fund" account, then as the name implies the account cannot hold cash and Quicken will only let you ever hold one fund in the account. To see the Single Mutual fund setting, click on the gear at the top right of the account's transaction list (register) then select Edit account details.

If you are not using any online services in Quicken, there is generally no reason to use the Single Mutual fund setting and you can change it to No. If you have named the account to the be the same as the fund you hold, you will want to rename it to avoid confusion. Be sure to back up your data file before changing this setting, in case you do not like the result.

jarhtmd

Thanks, Jim, for your quick reply.

Yes, it's set up as a "Single mutual fund" account. That seemed logical when I set up the 1st account. As circumstances changed & I opened more mutual funds, single fund accounts seemed logical. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Although my multiple funds are in the same Vanguard brokerage account, they are "single" Quicken accounts.

I guess my "work-around" is the best way for me to go.

Jim_Harman

My recommendation would be to make your accounts in Quicken match those at Vanguard and combine your Single Mutual Fund accounts into accounts in Quicken that match the accounts you have at Vanguard. Then among other things, your total Vanguard balance and the balances of the individual accounts would match your statement.

It's up to you of course, but if you would like instructions on how to accomplish this, please post back.

jarhtmd

I've attached prefixes to Quicken account names and arranged the "Investment Center" to match my statements, so I can easily differentiate. I don't have a total Vanguard balance in Quicken, but I verify the value of each of the parts (accounts).

q_lurker

A carryover from this prior discussion started by @jarhtmd August 2021
https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7897907/how-to-enter-transactions-to-sell-shares-from-2-mf-accounts-and-buy-shares-in-another-mf-account#latest

In that discussion, it was never resolved why the he is not seeing the option to send the proceeds of the sale from one SMF account to another.  Doing so would eliminate his need to enter fake transactions in the Checking account which appears to be his primary issue.  That would be the simpler method he seeks.

Jim_Harman

You can't send the proceeds to a SMF account because SMF accounts cannot hold cash. There is no Bought action in an SMF account, only BoughtX.

q_lurker

Jim_Harman said:

You can't send the proceeds to a SMF account because SMF accounts cannot hold cash. There is no Bought action in an SMF account, only BoughtX.

Through the Enter Transactions button, you can or by fully typing the second SMF account.  It appears in the sending SMF account as a SoldX and in the receiving SMF account as a BoughtX buying that accounts shares.  User may need to adjust the buying price or number of shares in the second account.