Unable to Import Old 401k Transactions from Principal or other Investment Accounts

whab

I am using Quicken Version 8.3.2 on Mac and I'm attempting to import historical transactions from a now-closed 401(k) account at Principal. I downloaded a .QFX file from Principal, but when I try to import it into Quicken, I get the following error:

Unable to read the selected Web Connect file.
Please contact your financial institution.

I contacted Principal, but they were not helpful. I have tried analyzing the .QFX file to identify formatting issues, but nothing obvious stands out. I tried converting the data to CSV with the columns described here https://info.quicken.com/win/import-transactions-from-csv-file , but CSV imports appear to only support bank accounts, not investment/401(k) accounts.

My questions are:

1. What are Quicken’s required format and standards for .QFX files, particularly for brokerage or 401(k) accounts.
2. Is there a method to import historical brokerage/401(k) transactions into Quicken on Mac without manually entering each transaction.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Quicken Kristina

Hello @whab,

Thank you for reaching out. Unfortunately, our help articles aren't very helpful for this issue, since the file is generated by the financial institution, and formatting issues should be something the financial institution can fix.

Since you've already reached out to the financial institution, and they did not help, perhaps the next thing to try is downloading a new QFX file from the financial institution website (just in case the problem was a one-time issue with that specific file). If the issue persists, sometimes changing the date range on the file you're downloading, or, if you're downloading data for multiple accounts, downloading a separate file for each account can help.

I hope this helps!