Why does Quicken add future placeholders?

Question

I'm using Quicken Deluxe for Windows R51.12. My employer offers a 401(k) account to which I contribute through biweekly paychecks. In Quicken, my paycheck is configured to post to my checking account a month ahead of time so I can keep track of the future balance. The paycheck includes a contribution transfer to the 401(k), which lands in that account as cash a month ahead of time and gets "used up" as the actual investment transactions come in. I've done it this way in Quicken since 2006 with no problem .. UNTIL NOW.

Although I have placeholders turned off for all accounts (edit > preferences > downloaded transactions > compare account portfolio after download > settings > clear all) Quicken has recently (within the past month) decided to automatically add many future placeholders to the 401(k) account. The placeholders are dated one day past the most recent cash transfer. They seem to have something to do with the cash source (employee vs. employer contribution) but otherwise seem completely random in terms of amounts and share counts. Such placeholders also add future entries to each security's price history; again, the future price seems random and entirely out of line with the security's actual price history. Each time this happens, the account's ending balance is reduced by a third. To fix it, I have to (1) delete all placeholders and (2) delete the future price history entries..

According to what use case is this valid behavior, and how do I get it to stop? Note above that I've turned placeholders off, but they're being stubborn. Thanks very much for your help.

Quicken Kristina · Answer

Thank you for your reply,

Did you run just a regular validate, or did you also run a super validate?  If you haven't run a super validate yet, I would recommend that you save a backup, then follow these steps:

Super Validate:

* File

* Hold CTRL + Shift and click Validate and Repair File...

* Super Validate File

* Click OK

* Close the Data Log

* Close Quicken (leave it closed for at least 5 secs)

Reopen Quicken and see if the issue persists.

Thank you.

daddyaboo- · Answer

Hello Kristina,

This has happened twice, the first time on 7/30/23 under the version prior to R51.12 and the second just a few days ago under R51.12. The July 30 occurrence came as a result of a Validate and Repair run, which generated 25 placeholders with actions such as "Replace securities purchased with unknown cash source," "Set # of shares purchased with Other Nonvested contributions" and "Set # of shares purchased with Pretax Contributions," all with a date of 8/26/23, one day past the latest cash transfer. The second occurrence came just a few days ago, this time NOT as a result of a Validate and Repair run; I simply noticed that the ending balance was once again much lower than it should have been, and found that another 25 placeholders and several future price history entries had been added.

The 401(k) account is with Empower (formerly Prudential), and around the same time as the first occurrence of the placeholder problem, that connection stopped working and has not worked since. I've tried deactivating and reactivating several times but nothing seems to work.

Hope this helps.

Quicken Kristina · Answer

Hello @daddyaboo-,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community and telling us about this issue.  I'm sorry to hear you're running into this problem.  When did this issue first start?  Which version of Quicken were you using when it started?  Quicken does automatically add placeholders for 401k accounts, but it should be a one-time process that happens the first time you download that account(s) into your Quicken.  Is this happening every time you download?  Are you having to deactivate and reconnect the accounts and it does it on reconnection?

Thank you.