cost basis question

[Guest]

I am using Quicken 2004
I recently created a new investment account by downloading info and
transactions from the financial institution managing the account.
Although I have cost basis information associated online with this
account, no cost basis information appears in the Quicken account after
downloading. Do I always have to enter cost basis information in Quicken
manually, or is there some trick to downloading it?

Thanks for any help and advice.

nospam@pacbell.net wrote: I am using Quicken 2004 I recently created a new investment account by downloading info and transactions from the financial institution managing the account. Although I have cost basis information associated online with this account, no cost basis information appears in the Quicken account after downloading. Do I always have to enter cost basis information in Quicken manually, or is there some trick to downloading it? Thanks for any help and advice.

Normally you "enter" cost basis info in Quicken when you
correctly enter a transaction that purchases shares of a
security; because you are starting a new account in Quicken, you
do not have all the historical transactions necessary to
establish cost info normally. If you do not wish to manually
enter all your historical transactions into Quicken for the most
accurate cost basis, you can enter an "Add shares" transaction
for the "missing" historical share purchases for each security
which will allow you to specify cost basis. The drawback is you
will lose "lot" control of those historical transactions in
Quicken that are represented by an Add Shares transaction, and
have to rely on the fi for this info.

Once you are downloading on a regular basis, cost info should
automatically be kept current by the downloaded transactions.

In theory, the financial institution could offer to download all
your historical transactions one time; but they probably won't.
They could also probably download Add Shares transactions for
you one time; but how do they know just how much history each
person has already entered or will want to enter? And it is not
much work for a user to manually enter one transaction for each
security owned in the account.

--
John Pollard
First Last at Bellsouth dot net
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[Guest]

Thanks for the clear explanation. So it sounds like the short answer is
that Quicken never downloads any cost basis information, even though it
might be available from the financial institution? Complete cost
basis/lot information is actually available online from my financial
institituion, but I'd rather not enter them by hand when they are
already available in machine readable form.

You did so well on this one, perhaps you'd like to take a crack at my
previous question regarding money market funds and cash balances that I
posted a little earlier in the day.

Thanks for your help.

John Pollard wrote:
nospam@pacbell.net wrote:I am using Quicken 2004I recently created a new investment account by downloadinginfoand transactions from the financial institution managing theaccount. Although I have cost basis information associatedonline with this account, no cost basis information appears inthe Quicken account after downloading. Do I always have toenter cost basis information in Quicken manually, or is theresome trick to downloading it?Thanks for any help and advice.Normally you "enter" cost basis info in Quicken when youcorrectly enter a transaction that purchases shares of asecurity; because you are starting a new account in Quicken, youdo not have all the historical transactions necessary toestablish cost info normally. If you do not wish to manuallyenter all your historical transactions into Quicken for the mostaccurate cost basis, you can enter an "Add shares" transactionfor the "missing" historical share purchases for each securitywhich will allow you to specify cost basis. The drawback is youwill lose "lot" control of those historical transactions inQuicken that are represented by an Add Shares transaction, andhave to rely on the fi for this info.Once you are downloading on a regular basis, cost info shouldautomatically be kept current by the downloaded transactions.In theory, the financial institution could offer to download allyour historical transactions one time; but they probably won't.They could also probably download Add Shares transactions foryou one time; but how do they know just how much history eachperson has already entered or will want to enter? And it is notmuch work for a user to manually enter one transaction for eachsecurity owned in the account.

nospam@pacbell.net wrote: Thanks for the clear explanation. So it sounds like the short answer is that Quicken never downloads any cost basis information, even though it might be available from the financial institution?

No, I don't think this really captures the truth. It is the
financial institution that controls what is downloaded. It is
they who decide which transactions, with what type Action code
for what period are downloaded ... not Quicken.
Complete cost basis/lot information is actually available online from my financial institituion

Trouble is, what you can see at the fi's web site is not
necessarily what they offer for download. You should be able to
check with the fi's tech support for Quicken to see if they
intend to ever offer more history than you have gotten. But it
is rare to get more than about 90 days worth of historical
transactions, and as I said, even if the financial institution
wanted to download some sort of summary transaction to represent
the detailed history, they would have no way of knowing which
Quicken user would want what information. When I started
downloading from each of my brokerage accounts, I already had
manually entered all my historical transactions: I did not want
any Add Shares (summary cost basis) transactions, and as it was
I had to accept quite a few "match" transactions that matched
the history I had already added.
, but I'd rather not enter them by hand when they are already available in machine readable form. You did so well on this one, perhaps you'd like to take a crack at my previous question regarding money market funds and cash balances that I posted a little earlier in the day. Thanks for your help.

--
John Pollard
First Last at Bellsouth dot net
Please reply to newsgroup