Distribution Transaction

[codybear]

I manually adding a dividend transaction for Oakmark (hint, hint) where I have one folder/account where in the "Distribution Transaction" popup has "Date:" and another folder/account where the "Distribution Transaction" popup has "Period Ending:" & "Period Beginning:" to enter the date. I prefer to have just the "Date:" to enter, but usually it is both period dates that I have to contend with. First question, why is one folder behaving different than the other folder and second, is there an option to just have it request the date of the transaction?

And I'll bug you once more about this. When entering a transaction, I prefer to not have the day's price automatically entered because this messes up either my cost or shares field. No matter what, I have to delete one or two of the fields so that the cost basis and number of shares is correctly calculated.

Jamie

[Mark]

Hi Jamie,

Which dialog is used for the Distribution entry depends on 2 things, the investment type, and the transaction entry preference. Both of these attributes are set in the "Investment Properties..." dialog. The transaction entry preferences is on the "Other" tab.

If the investment is a type of "Cash", then you will see the "Period Ending" and "Period Beginning" date choices.

If the investment type is not "Cash", then the dialog you see depends on the transaction entry preference. If you have this set to "Commission Fees", like for a stock, then you will see the "Date Received" and "For Shares Owned On" date controls. If you instead have "No Fees" or "Percentage Load Fees" you will only see the single "Date" entry box.

On the auto-price issue... If you use the tab order of the dialog, you should be able to enter the "Value" first, hit tab, and enter the "Shares", and hit tab again. All 3 should be correct, with the value/shares you entered. Are you using it differently?

[codybear]

Oops, I accidentally had the type being cash even though I had put it into the correct "Asset Type". So looking at the pie chart, I didn't see it as cash. I only noticed this because I had two identical funds with different account numbers and they were behaving differently.

As for entering the dividend, I'm typically in slow mode and using one hand to enter the data. In your case, when you tab, the "Shares" is highlighted so next key stroke deletes the calculated number of shares. But if you use the mouse to change fields, then the field is not highlighted, which causes you to have to highlight it yourself to delete the calculated value. In order to do it your way, I'll have to set down my beer (easier said than done on my mess of a desk).

Not a major issue, just a small inconvenience. Tried to show you how bad my desk is, but I couldn't figure out how to upload a picture.

Jamie

[Mark]

Hi Jamie,

Yes, I get your point on having to highlight and erase the shares if the price is pre-filled...