Two Different Numbers for my Net Worth?

[Doug Ellice]

Quicken 2005 has an interesting quirk: on my home screen, it displays
two different figures for my net worth. (Previous versions may have done
this, too, and I just didn't pay attention.)

One of the items I chose to display on my Quicken "home page" is my net
worth graph. A bar chart, it shows assets, liabilities and net worth
over time. I have it set (customized) to show the previous 12 months.
Above the bars is a small 3-cloumn, 3-row chart showing the total
assets, liabilities, and net worth as of today, a year ago, and the net
change.

Fine. But.

On the right side of my screen is the list of accounts. At the bottom
of this is a green window that gives a DIFFERENT figure for my net
worth. Below that is a button I can click to switch to the "Financial
Overview" page. The financial overview page has an almost-identical bar
chart of assets, liabilities and net worth, but this one has the same,
higher number that appears in the green window.

So how is it that Quicken shows different numbers for the same
valuations? Apparently, on the home page my investments are valued at
cost, and on the financial overview page they are valued at market!

It's not a bug; it's a feature....

Doug

[FredBear]

Doug Ellice wrote:
Quicken 2005 has an interesting quirk: on my home screen, it displays two different figures for my net worth. (Previous versions may have done this, too, and I just didn't pay attention.) One of the items I chose to display on my Quicken "home page" is my net worth graph. A bar chart, it shows assets, liabilities and net worth over time. I have it set (customized) to show the previous 12 months. Above the bars is a small 3-cloumn, 3-row chart showing the total assets, liabilities, and net worth as of today, a year ago, and the net change. Fine. But. On the right side of my screen is the list of accounts. At the bottom of this is a green window that gives a DIFFERENT figure for my net worth. Below that is a button I can click to switch to the "Financial Overview" page. The financial overview page has an almost-identical bar chart of assets, liabilities and net worth, but this one has the same, higher number that appears in the green window. So how is it that Quicken shows different numbers for the same valuations? Apparently, on the home page my investments are valued at cost, and on the financial overview page they are valued at market! It's not a bug; it's a feature.... Doug
FWIW, Quicken 2002 does the same thing. There's a discrepancy between
the figures at the bottom of the "My Finances" screen and on the Net
Worth Report, generated from the reports menu.

So, I'd also be interested in hearing how to resolve this.

[David K]

<BRH> wrote in message news:l4idnRttlLq6pjrcRVn-2g@comcast.com... Doug Ellice wrote: Quicken 2005 has an interesting quirk: on my home screen, it displays two different figures for my net worth. (Previous versions may have done this, too, and I just didn't pay attention.) One of the items I chose to display on my Quicken "home page" is my net worth graph. A bar chart, it shows assets, liabilities and net worth over time. I have it set (customized) to show the previous 12 months. Above the bars is a small 3-cloumn, 3-row chart showing the total assets, liabilities, and net worth as of today, a year ago, and the net change. Fine. But. On the right side of my screen is the list of accounts. At the bottom of this is a green window that gives a DIFFERENT figure for my net worth. Below that is a button I can click to switch to the "Financial Overview" page. The financial overview page has an almost-identical bar chart of assets, liabilities and net worth, but this one has the same, higher number that appears in the green window. So how is it that Quicken shows different numbers for the same valuations? Apparently, on the home page my investments are valued at cost, and on the financial overview page they are valued at market! It's not a bug; it's a feature.... Doug FWIW, Quicken 2002 does the same thing. There's a discrepancy between the figures at the bottom of the "My Finances" screen and on the Net Worth Report, generated from the reports menu. So, I'd also be interested in hearing how to resolve this.



I had the same problem. But I fixed it, here's what I did:

I figured out that the Net worth figure at the bottom of the small left hand
column (Q2004D) is correct, but my customized charts were wrong. I went to
my customized Net Worth Chart, clicked the "options" menu, selected
"Customize this graph", then on each of the "Accounts" and "Categories"
tabs, I clicked the "Mark All" buttons and then clicked OK. The numbers
matched up after that. One day I noticed they were off by a penny because
of a stock price calculation.

Try that, good luck! -- David K.

Doug Ellice wrote: Quicken 2005 has an interesting quirk: on my home screen, it displays two different figures for my net worth. (Previous versions may have done this, too, and I just didn't pay attention.) One of the items I chose to display on my Quicken "home page" is my net worth graph. A bar chart, it shows assets, liabilities and net worth over time. I have it set (customized) to show the previous 12 months. Above the bars is a small 3-cloumn, 3-row chart showing the total assets, liabilities, and net worth as of today, a year ago, and the net change. Fine. But. On the right side of my screen is the list of accounts. At the bottom of this is a green window that gives a DIFFERENT figure for my net worth. Below that is a button I can click to switch to the "Financial Overview" page. The financial overview page has an almost-identical bar chart of assets, liabilities and net worth, but this one has the same, higher number that appears in the green window. So how is it that Quicken shows different numbers for the same valuations? Apparently, on the home page my investments are valued at cost, and on the financial overview page they are valued at market! It's not a bug; it's a feature....

I'm not sure your analysis is correct; I did a brief test with
Q2005 and had no trouble getting the Home page "Net Worth"
(Current Balance) at the foot of the list of accounts to agree
within $.02 of the Net Worth in the net worth graph on that
page. I believe the key is that you must pay close attention to
any *customization*, whether of your own doing or by Quicken's
default.

There are more opportunities to customize and more
customizations available in Q2005 than in earlier versions, I
think. And some of the same old customizations may also come
into play. If the customizations are exactly the same and the
displays are intended to be for the same thing - if you are
comparing apples to apples - I think Quicken is getting them
right. (My test was admittedly brief).

One new customization that might create problems for the unwary
is that you can now "hide" categories; where you could not
before. Make sure that hidden categories are not affecting
different displays.

And take a look at the "selected" categories too; I believe I
noticed that at least one display defaulted to excluding the
Quicken investment categories: those that begin with the
underscore. Excluding Quicken investment categories from a
display/report could produce significant differences when
results are compared to a display that included those
categories. I do not believe that the display in question
(possibly the Account List on the Home page) was customizable in
earlier versions of Q ... I have forgotten just which display it
was at the moment, but I it was involved with net worth.

A second new Q2005 customization is that you can exclude account
totals from some display totals without hiding the account
itself. You should also determine if this is occuring in your
case.

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

BRH wrote:
FWIW, Quicken 2002 does the same thing.

I have never seen a problem like this in Q2002.
There's a discrepancy between the figures at the bottom of the "My Finances" screen and on the Net Worth Report, generated from the reports menu. So, I'd also be interested in hearing how to resolve this.

I think you could benefit from the same comments I made to the
op: namely, check your customizations; they must be exactly the
same for any two totals to agree, whether the totals are in
displays, reports or graphs. The totals must include the exact
same accounts, categories, etc. (And the totals must be meant
to agree in the first place; for example Quicken has two account
"balance" totals: Current and Ending. Those totals may be
different, without representing any problem.)

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

[FranksPlace2]

I have had a similar problem where the value of the accounts in the
sidebar doesn't match the value shown in my portfolio. The problem is
ususally a bad date (in the future) associated with a stock price. As
I recall, Quicken in the past warned you you were entering a future
date.

Frank


Doug Ellice <DouglasSpamNotEllice@Comcast.NotSpam.net> wrote in message news:<z8-dnW6XwsCiajncRVn-sg@comcast.com>... Quicken 2005 has an interesting quirk: on my home screen, it displays two different figures for my net worth. (Previous versions may have done this, too, and I just didn't pay attention.) One of the items I chose to display on my Quicken "home page" is my net worth graph. A bar chart, it shows assets, liabilities and net worth over time. I have it set (customized) to show the previous 12 months. Above the bars is a small 3-cloumn, 3-row chart showing the total assets, liabilities, and net worth as of today, a year ago, and the net change. Fine. But. On the right side of my screen is the list of accounts. At the bottom of this is a green window that gives a DIFFERENT figure for my net worth. Below that is a button I can click to switch to the "Financial Overview" page. The financial overview page has an almost-identical bar chart of assets, liabilities and net worth, but this one has the same, higher number that appears in the green window. So how is it that Quicken shows different numbers for the same valuations? Apparently, on the home page my investments are valued at cost, and on the financial overview page they are valued at market! It's not a bug; it's a feature.... Doug