Quicken 2015 newbie--how do I accomplish this

Which Brokerage ??? Do you have any other mutual fund accounts ?

I have my brokerage with Schwab, my mutual funds with Fidelity, TRowe, Vanguard, IRAs at Fidelity checking at ALLY and Chase, BoA ALL are handled with Quicken downloads of transactions. Our 529, CDs, and other private investments are entered manually.. I do not use any Quicken billpay or check writing.

just a note - the easiest way to keep up, is to use the online access to your Brokerage acct, etc - and download all future transactions...

I would think that the Quicken Transactions would just be something like this ....

1 - add cash to brokerage acct - cash bal increases 2 - buy stocks - cash bal goes down 3 - sell stocks - cash bal goes up 4 - divs received - cash bal goes up

Now - if you have something "else" handling the cash balance, then that's a sweep or exchange of some kind in your world. Normally - there is just a "Cash Balance" on the account.

I use TD Ameritrade for this account. I prefer to just do it manually on Quicken for now. You said: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I would think that the Quicken Transactions > would just be something like this .... > > 1 - add cash to brokerage acct - cash bal increases > 2 - buy stocks - cash bal goes down > 3 - sell stocks - cash bal goes up > 4 - divs received - cash bal goes up >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

EXACTLY!!! But it's not happening. I would also expect the value of my account would increase by X if I received a dividend of X!

Mel

Well - then it's hard to tell what you are doing... It's like I'm entering the numbers on the calculator, and the answer is incorrect ... What am I doing wrong ??

Look at your menu item - Account Details - how is your cash handled --> checking account Y/N ?

My Schwab account is steup with a linked checking acct listed in the Quicken Banking area - (it's not a real checking acct).

SO - for my Schwab div example -- Investment Transactions (pulldown) --> Income (Div, Int, etc) Account --> Schwab JT portfolio Transfer --> Schwab checking Security Name --> Starbucks Dividend --> $350

Pretty simple, just list exactly what you are entering for your DIV transaction ? AND do your divs get re-invested, or entered as cash ? Lots you can get wrong doing it manually, hard for us to play 20 questions...

MZB wrote in news:mcqre2$nfh$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:

When you enter Buy/Sell transactiosn do yo specify that the cash shoudl be taken from/added to this account, or from/to another account?

A Dividend will increas the cash balance of the account, unless you are set up to have the dividends automatically transferred out of the account (Some people like receiving a quarterly check), or maybe you are in a DRP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan) where the dividends are automatically used to purchase additional shares (or fractions thereof) of the stock.

The value (as opposed to the cash balance) of the account is a function of the current price of the various securities and the number of shares you own. It is quite possible that the overall value of your account may go down on the same day you receive a dividend.

"MZB"

OK, now XYZ gives me a dividend of $50. And I also sell out all my ABC shares and receive $10000. I enter those transactions. I WANT the cash balance to act as a sweep account. So that balance should increase by $50 + $10000. Also the shares of ABC should disappear from my Holdings. The net result should be an account increase of $50. ($10050 in the cash account and the value of my holdings decreases by $10000). I can?t seem to get it to do that.

------------------------------------------------------

Are you downloading to the Quicken account from your financial institution? Do the transactions that should affect the Quicken account cash balance have "N/A" in their "Cash Amt" column?

he said.... I use TD Ameritrade for this account. I prefer to just do it manually on Quicken for now.

SO - who knows what he's doing for transactions. THAT'S the real problem.

OKAY FOLKS, I THINK I SOLVED THE PROBLEM (YIPPEE!). Now I'll stop shouting. You gave me the hint above. When I entered my holdings in my account, I did not bother with any cash basis for my securities. All I wanted was a snapshot of my holdings and account value. I have a separate spreadsheet that I wrote to keep track of stock gains/losses. There was a placeholder (*) instead of the missing data. So, I went back in to enter the data. THAT is where it mentioned the cash should be taken/from and added/to my account. I did that and now everything is working perfectly.

Thanks for the help. Now, onward. I do a lot of options trades to, so I'm sure I'll have more questions. I do naked puts and when put to me I sell covered calls. I also do naked calls and when assigned a do covered puts!

This will be fun

Mel

I still don't know why you "entered my holdings" when Quicken will download your holdings and no manual entry is required.

To download, you have to set up your account using Tools, Add Account. Once the account is set up, you can then set up One Step Update to provide the userid and password for your online account.

When the setup is complete, you can run One Step Update to (1) download all of your holdings and (2) download any transactions affecting those holdings. Any change in holdings (bought or sold) will be reflected in your portfolio when you use One Step Update.

Arnie:

I know. I just wanted to do it manually. I guess I feel uneasy about entering my assorted IDs/Passwords for my assorted accounts. With all the hacking going on, I am a bit gunshy.

Mel

Mel,

I've been doing it for decades with no problem. I imagine most people here also have been or you would have heard a loud cry of outrage across the Quicken community.

jo

Of course you have an online TD account ID and password... I personally DON'T let Quicken store my passwords, and manually enter them whenever I do an online update... Forces me to remember them - in addition to having them written down.

Jo:

I understand. The funny part is I have no hesitation about logging in to my accounts at Rowe Price, Vanguard, TD Ameritrade, etc., as well as my bank account. But if one of those placs gets hacked, I can handle it. I am more leery that Quicken would have all my passwords to all my accounts.

I do understand that what you guys are suggesting is by far the best way to go to save time and maximize efficiency.

Mel

"ps56k" wrote

he said.... I use TD Ameritrade for this account. I prefer to just do it manually on Quicken for now.

--------------------------------------------------------------

I missed that - based my questions on the initial post.

Now that my suspicion of a placeholder has been confirmed, I'd be interested in knowing how one gets a placeholder when not downloading, and not manually entering an "Adjust Share Balance" transaction.

To clarify, the passwords are stored in Quicken on your computer, not on Intuit's computer. The only way your passwords would become available is if someone hacked your computer. As an option, you can follow PS56k's advice and don't store the passwords in Quicken. You will just have to enter them manually each time Quick runs the Update.

"the passwords are stored in Quicken on your computer, not on Intuit's computer." NOT entirely true. If any of your downloads are via Express Web Connect, then your ID and pwd are stored on Intuit's computer so that it can log in as you, in the middle of the night, and 'aggregate' your info for when you request that it be downloaded.

The statement IS true for Direct Connect and immaterial for Web Connect (where you logon to the bank/card/etc website and initiate the download yourself).

just keep getting a bigger hammer - and manually make it all fit -

Every once in awhile I try to balance all my accts and holdings, and have a 1 or 2 that I must have missed a download from years ago and the mutual fund is off by a little.... but, it's my Quicken data vs the fund company

John:

Just starting an account and at the start entering the securities and # shares for each.

Plenty of placeholders. I had to go back to the ENTER TRANSACTIONS (or maybe HOLDINGS/EDIT) to get rid of the placeholders

Mel