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Any Quicken Gurus out there?
Old 08-04-2015, 10:36 PM   #1
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Any Quicken Gurus out there?

I have two questions about Quicken, and I am still a newbie so I don't know if I should be posting two threads, or if just this one is OK.

1) Is there a Quicken user community or forum on this site or another site that is super useful? I did not see a forum dedicated to "tracking" software: tracking investments, tracking expenses, tracking ones path towards ER, etc. Some examples are Quicken, Excel, Moneydance, YNAB, other freeware, Mint, Personal Capital, etc.

2) I just started using Quicken 11 months ago when I realized that a spreadsheet & Personal Capital were just not enough for everything I wanted to do. Learning all the functionality in Quicken is not so easy! My current issue with Quicken is how to manage and reconcile my Roth IRA Vanguard account. Thank goodness I only have one Vanguard account because I just joined after Vanguard combined their brokerage and settlement accounts into one account. I still have to deal with Quicken requiring a cash account, while there is no such thing as a cash account in Vanguard. Instead of a cash account, Vanguard uses a money market account for the settlement account. You can buy and sell ETF's straight from/to the Money Market account. I am wondering how other Quicken users on this forum deal with this problem. Do you just use the cash account as a placeholder for the money market account, or does this cause an issue trying to track dividends and shares (though it is a Roth IRA, so I don't have to worry about cost basis...I hope)? Do you have a "fake" cash account that you buy/sell from/to between the Vanguard Money Market Account and your investments (in my case ETF's), which adds a lot of extra transactions to make it work right? Help! I am so lost, and my balances are all out of whack because of this cash account that does not really exist, but Quicken requires me to have. I am using Quicken 2014 Rental Property Manager for Windows.
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Old 08-04-2015, 10:37 PM   #2
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I forgot to add the question, when I finally get this mess straightened out, should I just disable automatic downloads, and enter in all future transactions manually?
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Old 08-05-2015, 12:56 AM   #3
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I just equate the moneymarket account with cash. Dividends are handled properly by quicken.

I like the auto downloads... It lets you review the imported transactions before entering them.
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Old 08-05-2015, 05:59 AM   #4
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My accounts are still Vanguard old school. VG says it won't combine my accounts. But I just set up MMF for the cash account, and the downloads work just fine.

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Old 08-05-2015, 06:31 AM   #5
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Correct me if I am wrong, but as I understand the way Vanguard will combine mutual fund and brokerage accounts, it will only be for a single account type, in other words, only for a tIRA, or only for a Roth or only for a taxable account. So it becomes as if you just have a brokerage account that can hold mutual funds or ETF or individual issues. It will actually make it easier for me as I now have two Quicken accounts for my tIRA... one mutual fund and one brokerage and prospectively they will all be in one account.

With respect to your second question, you have two choices. First, and in my opinion slightly preferable, is to have a MMF security/ticker in your Roth account along with whatever other holding you have and if you buy fund X for $10,000 then your cash will be -$10,000 and when the sale of MMF to provide the funding occurs then cash will go back to zero. If you use Vanguards automatic update feature this will all happen automatically. Think of the cash balance as a transactions in process account (a temporary holding place) that should have a natural balance of zero.

You could use the cash account to mimic the MMF, but I think it would be a bit harder.
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Old 08-05-2015, 06:51 AM   #6
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The intuit site (Quicken owner) has a good user community forum for help.
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Old 08-06-2015, 10:44 PM   #7
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I've used it to track about 12 different investment accounts, given DW's rollovers, IRA/Roths, and my own 403b. The only need for manual entry is my wife's Fidelity; all the others automatically download.
I would think that the cash account only triggers when the MM is sold to create funds for purchases, but I could be wrong. In any case, it has worked fine in our Vanguard account. It is a passive account, however, since right now I'm only reinvesting dividends/capital gains; the last time I rebalanced it was 2011, but Quicken handled those transactions fine, perhaps because I did exchanges.
Quicken is a fine way to see one's whole portfolio, including bank accounts, and loans in one piece--IMO.


2) I just started using Quicken 11 months ago when I realized that a spreadsheet & Personal Capital were just not enough for everything I wanted to do. Learning all the functionality in Quicken is not so easy! My current issue with Quicken is how to manage and reconcile my Roth IRA Vanguard account. Thank goodness I only have one Vanguard account because I just joined after Vanguard combined their brokerage and settlement accounts into one account. I still have to deal with Quicken requiring a cash account, while there is no such thing as a cash account in Vanguard. Instead of a cash account, Vanguard uses a money market account for the settlement account. You can buy and sell ETF's straight from/to the Money Market account. I am wondering how other Quicken users on this forum deal with this problem. Do you just use the cash account as a placeholder for the money market account, or does this cause an issue trying to track dividends and shares (though it is a Roth IRA, so I don't have to worry about cost basis...I hope)? Do you have a "fake" cash account that you buy/sell from/to between the Vanguard Money Market Account and your investments (in my case ETF's), which adds a lot of extra transactions to make it work right? Help! I am so lost, and my balances are all out of whack because of this cash account that does not really exist, but Quicken requires me to have. I am using Quicken 2014 Rental Property Manager for Windows. [/QUOTE]
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Old 08-06-2015, 11:51 PM   #8
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Quicken 2014 seems to have issues downloading all the transactions on various accounts almost monthly. It makes it hard to set it and leave it on automatic updates, especially with 15 different accounts I am tracking. I probably just need to set aside time every month to reconcile every account so I don't have to deal with a nightmare like I have now.

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Old 08-06-2015, 11:55 PM   #9
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Speaking of reconciling accounts, I finally got my Vanguard Roth "single" Brokerage/Money Market account fixed after a couple hours of work. Now I have to fix my boyfriend's Vanguard Roth Account, which is the old two account system where you have separate brokerage and money market accounts tied together. I am going to be an expert when I get through all this....or clinically insane!

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Old 08-08-2015, 09:04 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dreaming of Freedom View Post
I am going to be an expert when I get through all this....or clinically insane!
And that's why I just set up a simple asset account for my investments and update them quarterly. I'm not sure what else you get out of Quicken if you go to the trouble of setting up the accounts properly, but with a simple asset account, I can generate a net worth and other reports that give me a good handle on how I'm doing.
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