Q2005 Mutual Funds

[Eric Lipkind]

For some reason, all of a sudden, when purchasing mutual funds, Quicken will
not let me enter the total cost and price per share and automatically
calculate fractional shares purchased. It is requiring me to enter the
number of shares. Any idea why?

[Mike B]

Eric Lipkind <ericlipkind@comcast.net> wrote: For some reason, all of a sudden, when purchasing mutual funds, Quicken will not let me enter the total cost and price per share and automatically calculate fractional shares purchased. It is requiring me to enter the number of shares. Any idea why?

Perhaps Quicken wised up? It is far better for you to always enter the total
amount paid and the number of shares. That way the two important pieces of
information will match your fund holdings exactly. Quicken has been known to
get it wrong in the fractionals.

--
Mike B

[nsc]

Eric Lipkind took time on 05/02/23 17:42 to scribe: For some reason, all of a sudden, when purchasing mutual funds, Quicken will not let me enter the total cost and price per share and automatically calculate fractional shares purchased. It is requiring me to enter the number of shares. Any idea why?
Does this mean they've somehow dealt with the rounding errors in this
version? I always enter the price, number of units, and cost and let it
record the rounding error, if any, in the commission field.

[Fred Smith]

Your method is fine because you are entering the number of shares. This is
the important number.

When people let Quicken calculate the shares, you get a number like
365.4120122 shares. When they sell the position, they sell 365.412 shares,
and can't understand why the position is still showing in their portfolio.
It's because Quicken still thinks there are .0000122 shares left. By
entering the correct number of shares, you don't get these rounding errors
at sell time.

--
Regards,
Fred
Please reply to newsgroup, not e-mail


"nsc" <noone@thishome.com> wrote in message
news:111qqdq8ga81f30@corp.supernews.com... Eric Lipkind took time on 05/02/23 17:42 to scribe: For some reason, all of a sudden, when purchasing mutual funds, Quicken will not let me enter the total cost and price per share and automatically calculate fractional shares purchased. It is requiring me to enter the number of shares. Any idea why? Does this mean they've somehow dealt with the rounding errors in this version? I always enter the price, number of units, and cost and let it record the rounding error, if any, in the commission field.

[nsc]

Fred Smith took time on 05/02/24 16:29 to scribe: Your method is fine because you are entering the number of shares. This is the important number.
Not exactly. I reconcile my brokerage statements to Quicken and because
of the rounding errors, they have a tendency to not match. It's rather
annoying.

[Fred Smith]

What rounding errors? There can't be any rounding errors if you enter the
correct number of shares at each transaction. Rather than adjusting for
rounding errors, I would look for, and correct, the offending transactions.

--
Regards,
Fred
Please reply to newsgroup, not e-mail


"nsc" <noone@thishome.com> wrote in message
news:111t0uabadh5n23@corp.supernews.com... Fred Smith took time on 05/02/24 16:29 to scribe: Your method is fine because you are entering the number of shares. This is the important number. Not exactly. I reconcile my brokerage statements to Quicken and because of the rounding errors, they have a tendency to not match. It's rather annoying.

[nsc]

Fred Smith took time on 05/02/25 05:02 to scribe: What rounding errors? There can't be any rounding errors if you enter the correct number of shares at each transaction. Rather than adjusting for rounding errors, I would look for, and correct, the offending transactions.
While recording the three values as described results in exact totals
for those amounts, the market value for the entry is at times off by a
penny or two. This comes about as commission, positive or negative, is
added to cost to arrive at the market value. At times the positives
offset the negatives in the cumulative totals for the fund but not
always. Furthermore, these inaccuracies are carried through to the
market values of account and portfolio. I know. I know. I'm
nit-picking. Just thought Quicken might have added the option to 'throw
away' the rounding error.

[Mike B]

nsc <noone@thishome.com> wrote: Fred Smith took time on 05/02/25 05:02 to scribe: What rounding errors? There can't be any rounding errors if you enter the correct number of shares at each transaction. Rather than adjusting for rounding errors, I would look for, and correct, the offending transactions. While recording the three values as described results in exact totals for those amounts, the market value for the entry is at times off by a penny or two. This comes about as commission, positive or negative, is added to cost to arrive at the market value.

Excuse me. I hope the above is just a typo. The comission and cost of your
stock is the /basis *cost*/ of your investment, not the market value.

--
Mike B

[nsc]

Mike B took time on 05/02/25 17:07 to scribe: Excuse me. I hope the above is just a typo. The comission and cost of your stock is the /basis *cost*/ of your investment, not the market value.
Hi, Mike. Thanks for the correction. This is the first time I've tried
to come up with an explanation for what I see in the portfolio view. I
hadn't given it much thought up until now. Apparently I'm having a
difficult time with it.

Let's try this again but with an example. We buy $60,000 of Fund A at
$72.0074/unit and receive 833.248 units. When it is entered into
Quicken, a 'commission' of .02 results (to account for the rounding up
of the units received). But when this is displayed in the portfolio
view, Quicken calculates the market value (unit price x units held) and
comes up with $60,000.02 even though the cost was $60,000. It was this
difference I was referring to. But now that I've worked it out on
(virtual) paper, I realize the difference (though it looks funny) is not
an inaccuracy at all. My fault. D'OH! Still, perhaps there could be a
better way for Quicken to record the difference other than as a commission.

[Mike Blake-Knox]

In article <111vqe6ti90oc56@corp.supernews.com>, Nsc wrote: Still, perhaps there could be a better way for Quicken to record the difference other than as a commission

There is, you enter only the number of shares and total for the transaction.
To use your example, you enter 833.248 shares in the Number of Shares field
and $60,000 in the Total Cost field. Quicken then displays the price as
72.007374. You'll then find that the Commission is 0.

The layout of the Enter Transaction form doesn't make this obvious. The
price that is displayed shows your effective cost per share and is displayed
if a quote for the transaction date isn't available.

Hope this helps

Mike

[nsc]

Mike Blake-Knox took time on 05/02/26 07:45 to scribe: There is, you enter only the number of shares and total for the transaction. To use your example, you enter 833.248 shares in the Number of Shares field and $60,000 in the Total Cost field. Quicken then displays the price as 72.007374. You'll then find that the Commission is 0.
Hadn't considered that possibility and it's ramifications. I'll have to
give it some thought.

[Fanfare]

"Fred Smith" <fredsmith99@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:kjuTd.496875$6l.391879@pd7tw2no... Your method is fine because you are entering the number of shares. This is the important number. When people let Quicken calculate the shares, you get a number like 365.4120122 shares. When they sell the position, they sell 365.412 shares, and can't understand why the position is still showing in their portfolio. It's because Quicken still thinks there are .0000122 shares left. By entering the correct number of shares, you don't get these rounding errors at sell time. -- Regards, Fred Please reply to newsgroup, not e-mail "nsc" <noone@thishome.com> wrote in message news:111qqdq8ga81f30@corp.supernews.com... Eric Lipkind took time on 05/02/23 17:42 to scribe: For some reason, all of a sudden, when purchasing mutual funds, Quicken will not let me enter the total cost and price per share and automatically calculate fractional shares purchased. It is requiring
me to enter the number of shares. Any idea why? Does this mean they've somehow dealt with the rounding errors in this version? I always enter the price, number of units, and cost and let it record the rounding error, if any, in the commission field.


You will still have this problem. Some FIs download a number-of-shares that
is rounded already. So the final total on liquidation is still not going to
match.

This share price computation to many decimal places ends up in the share
price history where it causes incorrect calculations on other accounts, when
you have the same security in two accounts.

I would prefer to have the choice of which number to round. I could do this
with Q2002, and now not with Q2005. I consider that a loss of functionality.

[Seth Jackson]

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 10:45:52 EST, Mike Blake-Knox
<mikebkdontspam@Intrex.net> wrote:
In article <111vqe6ti90oc56@corp.supernews.com>, Nsc wrote: Still, perhaps there could be a better way for Quicken to record the difference other than as a commissionThere is, you enter only the number of shares and total for the transaction.

Problem is that the statements I receive from Fidelity Investments
does not allow me to do this. Fidelity tells me a dollar amount only
for each of dividends received, short term capital gains, and long
term capital gains. Then they provide the total dollar amount of the
entire reinvestment, the total number of shares reinvested, and the
price per share.

I need Quicken to calculate the number of shares for each of the
individual transactions. I can't even do it easily on the Enter
Transaction screen, because Quicken 2005 only provides a calculator on
the Amount field, not on the Shares field.

So, how can I easily enter these transactions using Q2005 without
having to resort to pulling out a calculator? If I need a calculator,
what's the point of having a computer with software?

[Mike Blake-Knox]

In article <kth3c19t4jup5gdmmemil96lc0sq6fhhrh@4ax.com>, Seth Jackson
wrote: Fidelity tells me a dollar amount only for each of dividends received, short term capital gains, and long term capital gains. Then they provide the total dollar amount of the entire reinvestment, the total number of shares reinvested, and the price per share.
I've run across this one from my broker. Instead of using the reinvest
transactions, use the normal ("cash") ones which will leave you with a
balance in your register. Use this to purchase the total number of
shares from your statement.

That should give you the right cost basis.

Mike

[Seth Jackson]

On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 08:01:08 EST, Mike Blake-Knox
<mikebkdontspam@Intrex.net> wrote:
In article <kth3c19t4jup5gdmmemil96lc0sq6fhhrh@4ax.com>, Seth Jacksonwrote: Fidelity tells me a dollar amount only for each of dividends received, short term capital gains, and long term capital gains. Then they provide the total dollar amount of the entire reinvestment, the total number of shares reinvested, and the price per share.I've run across this one from my broker. Instead of using the reinvesttransactions, use the normal ("cash") ones which will leave you with abalance in your register. Use this to purchase the total number ofshares from your statement.That should give you the right cost basis.

I see. Thanks.