How do I Fix a Negative Cash Balance?

Caden

Above is a screenshot of my account. I am adding an existing account to Quicken Deluxe and am trying to fix the negative cash balance. I am manually entering all of the securities as of Dec. 31, 2022 and selecting the "Bought Shares" as the description. I think the program assumes these are new purchases and I used cash to buy the shares which is not correct. Can I fix this by changing the Action description?

Thank you.

Q97

Try using Add - Shares Added instead, which does not affect the cash balance.

https://help.quicken.com/display/WIN/Add%2Bshares%2Bto%2Ban%2Baccount

Jim_Harman

Going forward, unless you receive shares as a gift or something unusual, you should enter new purchases os Buys.

Q97

Try using Add - Shares Added instead, which does not affect the cash balance.

https://help.quicken.com/display/WIN/Add%2Bshares%2Bto%2Ban%2Baccount

Caden

Will do that now. Thanks.

volvogirl

Or you need to transfer the cash in to buy the shares. Where did you get the cash? Did it come out of one of your accounts like Checking or Savings? How did you enter the cash used?

Caden

This account existed for several years (since 2010) and I am just now starting to use Quicken to track it. I don't want to go back to when the account opened and enter every transaction. I am starting with assets that existed in the account as of December 31, 2022 and going forward.

UKR

After you are done recording all your old shares as "Buy" transactions, adjust the account's Opening Cash Balance transaction so that it sets your Cash Balance as of 12/31/22 to be equal to the cash balance reported by the brokerage.

100,000.00 Opening Cash Balance (dated 1 day before the oldest Buy)
100,000.00- - sum of all Buy transactions
0.00 = Cash Balance on 12/31/22

Caden

Thank you for the tip! I went through the hassle of changing all securities to "Add" and that appears to have worked. I will keep your tip in mind if this happens again.

Jim_Harman

Going forward, unless you receive shares as a gift or something unusual, you should enter new purchases os Buys.

Caden

Thanks Jim. I understand the concept of gifting and it helps to hear it from you. However, these are not new purchases as they have existing in the account since 2021 when the account was opened. I am starting my accounting as of this year only so am trying to enter all the securities (and their various lots for costs basis) as of the beginning of this year. Any securities bought or sold after my start date will be classified as sales or new purchases according to the statements. This is only a hassle because I am manually entering all transactions.