Etrade vs RSU transactions

doucette

Hi folks,

My company uses E*Trade (I guess now Morgan Stanley at Work) for it's stock purchase plan -- ESPP and RSUs. For ages all I could get Quicken to hook up to was the individual brokerage account part -- that would get transactions automatically downloaded/entered. So I've kept a "Stock Purchase Plan" account in quicken to track paycheck deductions for ESPP, RSU vests, etc, all manual and a pain to keep "in sync". It's fallen pretty out of step, so I'm looking to clean that up.

I've noticed recently in the brokerage account it's starting to show entries like "Xfer xx units of <ticker>" as both security and description. This is showing up in the brokerage account transaction list as a deposit, though it doesn't seem to "hook up" to anything nor effect share balance. If I tell Quicken to reconcile shares, it reconciles against the amount in the brokerage account, and these other "Xfer unit" securities don't show up in the list.

Anyone else noticing this behavior? Anyone been able to get something like this to automatically hook up to the security correctly so you can reconcile including the stock plan account? Almost seems like I could just drag those transactions over to my stock purchase plan and touch them up manually to make them add shares, hoping for something more streamlined.

Appreciate any thoughts...thanks!

Quicken Jasmine

Hello @doucette,

Thanks for reaching out!

Currently, Quicken for Mac doesn't offer built-in support for these types of equity compensation plans, which can make tracking them accurately somewhat challenging. However, some workarounds can help you manage these transactions more effectively.

One effective method is to create two separate accounts within Quicken:

1. Account 1 – RSU Holding Account: This account will be used to track your RSUs.
   • Add Shares: When your RSUs are granted, record them as "Add Shares" with a nominal cost (e.g., $0.000001 per share).
   • Sell Shares for Taxes: When shares vest and your employer withholds a portion for taxes, record this as a "Sell" transaction with a "Miscellaneous Expense" category to account for the tax withholding.
   • Transfer Shares: After vesting, transfer the remaining shares to your brokerage account.
2. Account 2 – Brokerage Account: This is your standard investment account where your shares will reside after vesting.

This method helps track shares and their associated costs, even though Quicken for Mac doesn't directly support RSUs.

For your ESPP transactions, Quicken for Mac can handle them to some extent. You can set up an after-tax deduction in your paycheck setup to track the purchases. However, for detailed tracking and reporting, you might need to manually enter the transactions.

I understand that these workarounds aren't ideal, and that's why we've submitted a feature request to enhance Quicken for Mac's support for stock options and restricted stock grants. You can view and add your vote to this request here: Add capability to enter stock options / restricted stock grants in Quicken Mac.

Your feedback is valuable, and adding your vote can help prioritize this feature.

I hope this helps!