Empower 401K Account Balance Issue

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This discussion was created from comments split from: R52.28 UPDATE ?????.

Comments

  • Akafrank
    Akafrank Quicken Mac Subscription Member ✭✭

    Still can't get Quicken to show balance of Empower 401K in account list. It has not worked since August 2023.

  • icab
    icab Quicken Mac Subscription Member

    Following. My 401k was moved from Vanguard to Empower. Annoyed that Empower connection doesn't work: Quicken's error message says it can't find my 401k account or that the account doesn't support that type of connection.

  • Drinkingbird
    Drinkingbird Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭✭

    Are you on the Prudential platform (retirement.prudential.com) or empower (empowermyretirement.com)? The latter does not support anything other than manual QFX downloads from their website. I was just migrated, they claim to be the biggest retirement servicer in the country but don't support a feature that even small credit unions do…..

  • raustin316
    raustin316 Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭

    On my new Empower website they are pushing me to link all of my accounts to my retirement account like I do in Quicken. As you said Drinkingbird they only support the QFX download for Quicken. Empower wants to be the aggregator of your finances instead of Quicken. I don't like the idea because my data is not local to my computer. It's out on the wild internet.

  • Drinkingbird
    Drinkingbird Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭✭

    Ironic how they want you to link all your outside accounts (meaning your outside accounts must support OFX) when they don't support it huh? No way I would ever link my accounts with any FI like that.

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭✭

    Ironic how they want you to link all your outside accounts (meaning your outside accounts must support OFX) 

    This is incorrect. People using Quicken tend to believe that Quicken/OFX/QFX is the only game in town, it isn't, by far.

    "Aggregators" have been using various systems to try to download transactions for an extremely long time. And I might add that most of them are very unreliable because they aren't standardized protocols.

    In fact, Express Web Connect + is Quicken Inc's name for an effort by to try to get the aggregators to all use the same protocol called FDX. (Express Web Connect + is the whole process flow, whereas FDX is just used between Intuit's server and the financial institution. Note Intuit is Quicken Inc's aggregator.)

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  • Drinkingbird
    Drinkingbird Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2023

    I'm aware FDX and EWC+ are one and the same (all the more reason they should be able to support quicken since FDX supports investment accounts). I'm also aware that none of my accounts that have aggregation ability support Empower (aka Great West Life), while all those other accounts are supported by Empower's aggregation and Quicken. While it may be screen scraping rather than OFX for some, the point remains the same. Empower wants you to give them access to your entire financial picture and will not let anyone else access them.

    Given how aggressive they are being with trying to get you to link all your outside accounts (selling it as a benefit to you) I can only assume that it is for them to be able to market additional products to you, try and get you to bring money over to them, and/or sell your data.

  • Chris_QPW
    Chris_QPW Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭✭

    I can't say that any of my financial institutions are "aggressive" at promoting linking to other financial institution's data, but all the major ones have had it (and it in general it works terribly).

    I suppose it is one of main reasons they allow aggregation of their data at all. They figure they have to participate in this so that they can do the same with the other financial institution's data to try to retain their customers. Sounds like Empower only wants to play one side of that arrangement. Not really too surprising, maybe it more surprising that other don't seem to do more of that.

    But it is really (and always has been) in a terrible state since there isn't any real standard for it. I really don't expect FDX to make any difference. It will again (like OFX) get minority of the financial institutions doing it.

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  • Drinkingbird
    Drinkingbird Quicken Windows Subscription Member ✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2023

    So far they're not proving to be anything I'd be comfortable with having access to any data beyond their own. But every time you log in (which you have to do now on a regular basis to download transactions) and as you navigate around the site they want you to "finish your account setup" which is simply linking your outside accounts.

    They're the only FI I use that does not support some form of download from within Quicken. But at least until I leave my current employer, really have no choice but to use them.

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