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How to resolve overlapping (double) account balances after transferring investment to a new account

radishes

Hello, I would love some help with this. I transferred funds from one retirement account to another last year. For my 2024 balance, the total amount is showing up in each investment account, i.e. doubling the money that I have. For a reason I can't figure out, the one account that is now $0.00 in 2025 shows that the account was whole through 12/2024 while the account where the funds were transferred to shows the corresponding balance showing up in 11/2024. This means that in DEC the total amount is showing up twice. I'm not sure what to do and it messes up my 2024 balance. They are both Vanguard accounts. Ideas?

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Accepted answers

Jim_Harman

When you switch to Complete mode, you will see the transactions that were entered while you were in Simple mode. For example you may see that the shares were Removed from the old account on one date and Added to the new account on an earlier date, which would cause the double balance in between. In that case you can edit the transactions in one of the accounts so the dates match.

Before editing historical transactions you should always save a backup so you can go back to the original file if something goes wrong.

If you decide not to change anything, you can switch back to Simple mode.

All comments

Jim_Harman

You generally can't rely on downloaded transactions to handle transferring your assets from one account to another. Usually it is best to make sure the transactions in Quicken mirror what happened in real life. In retirement accounts, often the securities are sold in the old account, the cash is moved to the new account, and the same or new securities are bought in the new account.

Is this what happened in your case, or were the securities moved "in kind", i.e. transferred to the new account without being sold? You can tell this by looking at the statements from the old and new accounts.

Also are these accounts using Quicken's Simple tracking mode, where the account shows a dashboard with 4 large boxes, or in Complete mode, where you see a detailed transaction list?

radishes

Hi Jim, Thank you. As I didn't do the transactions, I'll need to check the statements when I have access to the account (not mine) later this week. It is in the dashboard with 4 large boxes which I don't really like. Quickin seems to default to dashboard for the newer accounts and stays with the Complete mode for the older accounts. I very much appreciate your insights and will circle back. Best, Dorothy

Jim_Harman

Are you downloading transactions for these accounts or entering them manually?

If the accounts are in Simple mode and did not download on the same date, I can see how you would get the overlap. In either case you should be able to click on the gear at the top right of each account and switch it to Complete mode to see the underlying transactions. To avoid the overlap, you would have to edit the transactions that move the money and/or the securities between the accounts so that both sides are on the same date.

To prevent new accounts from defaulting to Simple mode, go to Edit > Preferences > Investments and un-check the "Default to Simple investing for new accounts" box

radishes

Hi Jim, Thank you. I will try this and get back to you with any additional questions. I appreciate your help. Best, Dorothy

radishes

Hi Jim, Appreciate your help. I found the button to change from simple to complete mode. However, I didn't choose it because there is a warning written in red that says that 'the transactions downloaded in simple are not the same as the transactions downloaded in complete. Are you sure you want to switch the tracking method.' What will happen if I switch?

Jim_Harman

Before editing historical transactions you should always save a backup so you can go back to the original file if something goes wrong.

If you decide not to change anything, you can switch back to Simple mode.

radishes

Thank you. It worked! And as you said, it was simple once I got the transaction dates from the financial institution. Best, Dorothy