Default cash account

[PWatson]

Hello,

What are the general guidelines for using a default cash account? For example, would you assign one If all money is first coming into a money market fund, before being deployed into various investments? Help.

[Mark]

Hi PWatson,

Most broker accounts would have a default cash account. This can be your money market. Just choose whatever investment is used when you buy/sell or receive distributions.

[PWatson]

Mark,

I'm assuming that I can't "back into" this with accounts that I've already set up ( without a default m.mkt.,) correct, and that I'll need to delete and do again? Not a big deal, if that's the best route.

[Mark]

Hi PWatson,

You can't have the corresponding default cash account entries automatically created after entering the transactions earlier without a default cash account. You can assign a default cash account at any time (Portfolio Properties dialog). Only transactions entered/imported/retrieved while the default cash account is assigned will have an automatic corresponding entry.

To fix transactions entered without a default cash account you can either just record the cash side of the transaction, or you could delete and re-add the original transaction.

[PWatson]

Mark,

Vanguard still separates their brokerage accounts from their own fund accounts, and sweeps money from the Vanguard account ( with it's own account number ) in and out of the brokerage accounts.
How do I set such a default cash account? ( Vanguard's linked sweep account didn't appear in the list from which to designate an existing cash account as the default. )

Thanks,

[PWatson]

Mark,

Does this make sense?

I did see where I could assign the Prime Money Market fund ( with the correct account number from the sweep account ) to the Vanguard brokerage account sub-portfolio in FM. I also have a separate sub-portfolio for the Vanguard individual account in which the Prime Money market fund (sweep) actually exists. The brokerage account shows all the transactions going in and out of the default cash account, with a balance of zero. The other account shows the correct amount of cash in the money market account. All the balances are correct in FM, and correspond to the 2 Vanguard accounts. Am I on the right track?

[Mark]

Hi PWatson,

I didn't follow all the details here. Usually the default cash account comes from the same account, but it doesn't have to. If for some reason your default cash account is located in a different account, use the "Portfolio Properties..." dialog, and next to the "Default Cash Account" choice, choose "Show All". This will give you the choice of all investments from all sub-portfolios to select as your default cash account.

[Ivan]

Hi PWatson,

I have Vanguard accounts I am tracking with FundManager. It works fine to combine the Vanguard account and its linked brokerage account into one subportfolio with the Prime Money Market fund as the cash account. Vanguard uses that one Prime Money Market fund as the cash repository for both the Vanguard and linked brokerage accounts.

Hope this helps,
Ivan

[PWatson]

Ivan,

I appreciate the response. I am having a lot of trouble getting things to properly download from Vanguard. Could I contact you and speak with you about your experiences?

You can reply direct to my email philipwatson@mac.com

Thanks,

Phil