How to include loss on investment?

Paul Yelk

Using Quicken for Windows (version R45.21).

Wanting to manually add investment.

Going back to the beginning, I don't have share costs, etc. Willing to enter manually each quarterly's profit/loss.

One quarter there was a loss. Program won't let me enter a minus amount.

I'm using account category of "Other Investments". It is a traditional IRA.

Quicken Jasmine

Hello @Paul Yelk,

When manually tracking investment performance in Quicken, especially without specific share data, it’s important to choose the correct transaction type and account setup.

Since you're using an "Other Investments" account type within a Traditional IRA, and you're trying to enter a quarterly loss, Quicken may be blocking the negative amount because it's expecting either a share-based transaction (like a sale or a value adjustment) or a properly categorized cash flow entry.

Here are a few options to accurately reflect a loss:

1. Use a "Return of Capital" transaction: You can enter a negative amount using the Return of Capital type, which will reduce the account’s cost basis. This is useful when you don't have share detail but need to show a loss in value.
2. Use a "MiscExp" transaction: Try entering a Miscellaneous Expense (MiscExp) transaction with the loss amount. This will reduce the account’s balance without requiring share details.

I hope this helps!

Quicken Jasmine

https://community.quicken.com/discussion/7961736/how-to-include-loss-on-investment

Just checking in!

Jim_Harman

Are you adding or removing money to/from this account, or is it just accumulating?

If it you are not adding money to the account, you could create a fake security - call it "Old IRA" or whatever - and an IRA account to hold it. Then Add 1 share of the security to the account at whatever the current value is. When the value changes, just update the price.

An easy way to update the price is to go to the account and click on Holdings. Next to Show: select Value if it is not already selected. Next to As of: enter the statement date. Click on the Quote/Price next to the security name and enter the account value from your statement.

It you are taking distributions from the account, you can enter a Dividend for the amount of the distribution and transfer that to whatever account in Quicken receives the distributions. If you care about Quicken's Tax Planner and Tax reports please post back for more info on how to enter the distributions so all that will be handled correctly.