Missing assets Fidelity RIP

[brianc629]

I am having a strange issue with Fidelity's RIP (again). This started several months ago for me, and has not gone away. I list all of our asset accounts under the assets tab. Each account is checked to include it in the assessment. On the summary tab, all the accounts are there and total correctly.

Then I click "run simulations", and get the Analysis tab. When I look at the Detailed Cash Flow Summary, it starts with 2016 and our Beginning Assets are approximately $130,000 less than assets I input.

I can't figure out why it is starting me out in 2016 with $130K less than I am telling it I have?

Does this happen to anyone else? What am I missing?

[daylatedollarshort]

I did have that happen. In my case I had an account on the asset page that did not have the "include" box checked.

[MRG]

Do you have $130K in real estate? I think it may exclude R.E. holdings.

[brianc629]

We do not have real estate included in our assets. The accounts are your "typical" financial accounts - IRA's, Roth's, Taxable Investment Accounts, and bank accounts.

[Corporateburnout]

Are all your assets listed before you press "run simulations"? I had problems with my bank assets which are included in my "full view" disappear. I would then sign out then sign back in and they would reappear.

You also find that Fidelity starts with a conservative starting balance sometimes as much as 10% less than actual portfolio balance to account for initial market correction.

[brianc629]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corporateburnout Are all your assets listed before you press "run simulations"? I had problems with my bank assets which are included in my "full view" disappear. I would then sign out then sign back in and they would reappear. You also find that Fidelity starts with a conservative starting balance sometimes as much as 10% less than actual portfolio balance to account for initial market correction.

Under the "Your Situation" tab, all my assets are listed on the "assets" subtab, and the "summary" subtab before I press "run simulations". I have logged in and out many times since this started happening and it doesn't fix it.

[GravitySucks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort I did that have happen. In my case I had an account on the asset page that did not have the "include" box checked.

+1

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[Corporateburnout]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianc629 Under the "Your Situation" tab, all my assets are listed on the "assets" subtab, and the "summary" subtab before I press "run simulations". I have logged in and out many times since this started happening and it doesn't fix it.

Again the tool is very conservative. I ran RIP this morning and the beginning assets in 2016 were 6.7% lower than current assets.

[foxfirev5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort I did that have happen. In my case I had an account on the asset page that did not have the "include" box checked.

I had the same thing happen. I also believe it has been more than once, or maybe I was messing around with my asset mix. It is easy to fix once your recognize it.

[nwsteve]

I also have had similar experiences with RIP (which I love btw). Major issue was Full View assets "disappearing". Story turned out to be Yoddle who provides Full View data had made changes to their data feed and Fido systems were not matching. I ended up dropping Full View feed and opting for manual updates since the outside assets were limited. Financial institutions like Ally etc all seem to work no issues.
Further conversations also revealed that you will get some variations if you do not remember to exit the RIP with the SAVE/EXIT link at the very bottom of the page. Apparently Fido keeps results on multiple servers and you may get a server with a prior version on it.
All this is about six months old so it could have all changed again with Fido maintenance and Yoddle updates.
Also the drop in the first year from current portfolio value I think comes from the model deducting your current year's net spending and withdrawals per your input.
Good Luck

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nwsteve ...snip (no experience with full view) Further conversations also revealed that you will get some variations if you do not remember to exit the RIP with the SAVE/EXIT link at the very bottom of the page. Apparently Fido keeps results on multiple servers and you may get a server with a prior version on it. All this is about six months old so it could have all changed again with Fido maintenance and Yoddle updates. Also the drop in the first year from current portfolio value I think comes from the model deducting your current year's net spending and withdrawals per your input. Good Luck

Ah, I have had issues caused by not hitting save at the correct time. Didn't know what caused them.

I did experience the drop in first year when I told RIP I was retired. Since it was early in the calendar year it stood out. But I thought I could account for it by year two.

[H2ODude]

I have some screwiness with mine too, but I just work around it. I use the full view just to give me a total net worth importing from one account outside, and then manually add two loans I've made. The balance on the loans don't move that fast so manually updating them once in a while is fine. What's screwy is those two manual accounts show up on the RIP asset page, but I cannot add them to the mix; the box is shaded out and non-responsive. So I just add in manually an amount equal to the balance of the two loans. It's just not worth the phone call and maybe finding the right tech to figure it out. I too love the RIP tool, mainly because it figures out all the taxes for me and we have a lot that will hit when we hit 70-1/2. I prefer to have a tool that lets me generate an after tax annual safe allowance.

[marks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianc629 Then I click "run simulations", and get the Analysis tab. When I look at the Detailed Cash Flow Summary, it starts with 2016 and our Beginning Assets are approximately $130,000 less than assets I input. I can't figure out why it is starting me out in 2016 with $130K less than I am telling it I have? Does this happen to anyone else? What am I missing?

I don't think that it's an issue with the site. There is one variable that I know will cause a different starting asset balance:

1) After you click "Run Simulations" the first time, Click "View Additional What-if Scenarios"
2) Click "What if you change your assumptions of market performance."
3) Change the desired "Confidence Level", e.g. 95%, 90%, 75%.

This will dramatically affect the first year asset balance. For example, when you pick 95%, the balance will take a large hit from the start.

Mark

[Sunset]

No idea, but maybe it's just a Fidelity Management fee being accounted for

[brianc629]

Thank you for the replies. Several of you mentioned "full view". Is this where you link your non-Fidelity accounts automatically versus manual entry? As corporateburnout and marks pointed out, I guess thats just the way the planner works. I did play with the "confidence" settings (95%, 90%, etc.) and see that that makes a huge difference in our portfolio balance as of 2016.

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[jkern]

I believe the lower asset value is assuming a market loss. It gives you a so called "worst case scenario". It appears that the program is written to always show results beginning in January of the following year. You will notice as you run the program all year long, the results will always begin in 01/16.

[Bamaman]

Sometimes Fidelity won't have all the accounts linked together. My wife and I went by a Fidelity office recently and linked her accounts and my accounts to where they can be withdrawn into our joint checking account. Now, they all show as sub accounts of the big total Fidelity account.

It's also good to checkup on the beneficiaries and secondary beneficiary on the accounts--to avoid probate on those accounts.

[LOL!]

I called Fidelity about a similar problem with RIP. The answer was something you would never guess:

My Fidelity 401(k) assets were not being used. It turns out that Fidelity does not know who the beneficiaries are to my 401(k), so something in the way Fidelity does things prevents those assets from being used in my case. Furthermore, my Fidelity 401(k) does have beneficiaries, but they are kept with the paperwork at my ex-employer who in turn has not and will not send that info to Fidelity. That is, just because Fidelity runs the 401(k) does not mean that Fidelity runs the 401(k).

The solution was to update my beneficiaries directly with Fidelity and override the beneficiaries that I have on file with my ex-employer. Of course, they would be the same, but I suppose it might lead to more confusion if I died.