Can I correct a 21 year old account setup mistake?

So I've been using Quicken for Windows for a long time, so I have a LOT of old investment data that has carried into my current file, even though I have been doing year-end archiving. In 1999 I set up 2 IRA accounts (for me and my spouse), but set them up horribly wrong.

I set their holding as the name of the account, not the mutual fund, so I have a bunch of holdings listed as shares in "My Roth IRA" and "Her Roth IRA" rather than the mutual fund symbol. (It's the same mutual fund for each of us.) Since I've always manually entered those transactions, it didn't flag any problems with the financial institution. Just stupidity and inexperience.

Of course, I have no visibility into the actual holding value without manually updating them both individually to the same number. Also, now that I plan to reallocate the funds in the IRA to multiple mutual funds, it doesn't support doing that in the current configuration.

Is there any way to un-screw the mess I've made of this other than manually editing 21 years of transactions in 2 accounts? (And of course, those contribution transactions will insist on having an account linked to them as a source of funds which I have long-since closed...)

I'm not sure if there's a way out of this at all, to be honest. Maybe manually editing 21 years x 12 months x 2 accounts and setting the transfer account to be a dummy temporary account? Hopefully someone has a better solution than that...

Thanks for any ideas!

Best Answers

Answers

  • volvogirl
    volvogirl SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    Can't you just add the symbol to them?  Sounds like how I set mine up. I have Vanguard GNMA IRA him and Vanguard GNMA IRA her with the same symbol on them.

    I'm staying on Quicken 2013 Premier for Windows.

  • ScottyC
    ScottyC Member ✭✭
    Thanks, and very helpful - but you're right - I must not have explained the entire issue completely. Your description of future diversification is perfect. Can do. That's solved. Thanks!

    Here's the part I didn't explain well.

    I have an account called "My Roth". It's holdings is shares in a mutual fund ("SMMIX"), but that's not what Quicken shows. This account holds a made-up investment called "My Roth Fund" rather than SMMIX.

    I have a second account ("Her Roth") that holds a made-up investment called "Her Roth Fund"). In reality, both are holding shares in mutual fund SMMIX, but neither reflects that. They each show holdings in their unique, made-up investments.

    Had I set it up right, I could have looked at a view that shows me our total position in SMMIX. Can't do that now, because the accounts don't hold that mutual fund; they hold unique, made-up investments.

    (I told you I was stupid 21 years ago.)

    Can I use Mutual Fund Conversion to magically change "My Roth Fund" to "SMMIX"? And then "Her Roth Fund" to "SMMIX"? That would be amazing, I think. History would still be in the account, and the investments would show the correct real-world funds going forward.

    Will that work?

    Thanks for the advice!
  • ScottyC
    ScottyC Member ✭✭
    I can use Ctrl-Y to rename ONE of the made-up securities to the proper name, but when I try to rename the second one, I get an error because I already have a security with that name.

    As Sherlock said, there's nothing technically wrong with having 2 different names pointing to the same security, but it makes analyzing holdings weird or misleading (apparent diversification where there is none).

    I guess I can rename the security with one of the accounts and then either do the mutual fund conversion (to fix future-only) or manually edit all transactions (to fix history and future) on the other.

    Thanks for the advice!

    (Here's the dirty little secret - I simplified the situation for ease of explanation. There are actually 5 separate accounts set up this way. My Roth, Her Roth, My Traditional, Her Traditional, and a plain Investment. Each with a uniquely-named security that are all actually the same mutual fund. Some go back to 1991. That would be a LOT of manual correction! I think the Mutual Fund Conversion may be the way to go.)

    Thanks again!!
  • q_lurker
    q_lurker SuperUser ✭✭✭✭✭
    "I guess I can rename the security with one of the accounts and then either do the mutual fund conversion (to fix future-only) or manually edit all transactions (to fix history and future) on the other."

    You got it.  
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