Bal Fwd just showed up on Report

Question

I have a 401(k) account. I have been running detailed transactions through it since its creation 3 years ago. All the detail transactions reconcile to the penny with online balance and all shares balance to the 6th decimal place.

On my Income / Expense report, I have a new line that has shown up for Jan called Bal Fwd 401(k) for $45.14 and its throwing my balance off. It was not there earlier this month when recorded my Overall Total. I click on the $45.14 and it opens a report for the 401(k) account which shows no transactions. There are no individual transactions in the 401(k) account for $45.14. In fact, I have no transaction for $45.14 in the last 12 months for any account.

I am including internal transfers on my report Advance tab because I track some transfers (like my house note principle) as an expense for budgeting purposes. Likewise on this 401(k) account. But now this random value has shown up on my report.

Anyone have any ideas?

mshiggins · Answer

"I am including internal transfers on my report Advance tab ...."

What Quicken is categorizing as "Bal Fwd 401(k)" is Quicken's way of giving a name to all the "self-transfers" in the 401(k) account.

Transfers back into your 401(k) account (back into the same account where the transaction is recorded), which are known as "self-transfers", are named "Bal Fwd 401(k)" in the report (they're transfers, but they are both TO and FROM the same account).

The "Bal Fwd" rows you see in the Income section of the report represent the net amount of "inflow" transactions to the account, generated by self-transfers.

The "Bal Fwd" rows you see in the Expenses section of the report represent the net amount of "outflow" transactions from the account, generated by self-transfers.

When you drill down on a "Bal Fwd" income amount, look at the "Inflows" total;  when you drill down on a "Bal Fwd" expense amount, look at the "Outflows" total.

To remove the "Bal Fwd" categories from the report, uncheck the box,  "Include self-transfers" in the "Transfers" dropdown on the report Customize > Advanced tab.

-JP

mshiggins · Answer

The seemingly invisible Bal Fwd transaction could be a Placeholder.  You can find out about Placeholders and how to get rid of them in this FAQ:

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7190594/faq-placeholders-deciphered-if-you-are-frustrated-with-placeholders-read-this