Transfer between brokers

[P.G]

Hi Mark.

I recently had to move a bunch of holdings between two brokers. I'm hoping you can help me get straight in my head how I account for this without messing any of my reports up.

I choose the holding with the old broker, go Investment Data | transfer between, create a new investment with the same details at the destination broker and enter the number of shares I hold. The transfer out from the old broker is matched by the transfer in to the new broker. None of the cash holdings get upset.

I have some reports that try to separate investment performance from 'transfers in of new money' - which I use the 'transfers in OOP(btw)' field in a custom report. The problem of course is that the transfer between brokers shows up as a new 'transfer in' even though no new money has been added.

Do you have any idea how I can net out 'transfers in' from 'transfers between'?

Thanks again
Paul

[Mark]

Hi Paul,

The "Transfer Between" dialog wizard records "Transfer Out" and "Transfer In" transactions. There is no actual "Transfer Between" transaction. Using this wizard there is no getting around that you will have transfers. You really did have transfers between the two accounts. You should however see an equivalent amount transferred out as you do transferred in.

Another option you may consider is simply renaming the first account, and not recording any transfers. This would only work if you transferred all the holdings, but this way you don't see any transfers in your reports. The down side is you don't have an actual record of the transfer from one account to another.

[P.G]

Thanks Mark.

Just wondering (out loud). Given that I don't draw anything out of these accounts for spending, if I were to include transfers out in my custom report then I could do the netting out manually -couldn't I?

(Both these accounts are tax free and the portfolio is only for my own interest/entertainment, so there are no tax or compliance complications to consider).

Or I could, as you say, just rename the original account and add in any subsequent transactions with the new broker. That's worth looking into as well.

Thanks again
Paul

[Mark]

Hi Paul,

Yes, if you included both accounts, the transfers out should match the total of the transfer ins. Just renaming the account may be simpler. You can use the memo field in the sub-portfolio properties to record the information on when the account transferred between brokers, so you have a record of that information.