Default Cash Account Assignment

[akahrim]

Mark...I have been trying to get a handle on default cash accounts to back enter past transactions as sub-portfolios by year. I checked the .pdf manual but cannot seem to get to the screen shown on page 17.

I create a sub-portfolio e.g. 1982 and I am expecting the "Default Cash Account Assignment" screen/box but it does not show?

Also, do I need to create a cash account for every past year for each sub-portfolio by past year? Or can I use the initial cash account and somehow move it forward without double dipping when viewing reports?

Thx
AK

[Mark]

Hi AK,

That dialog shown on page 17 of the 8.x PDF manual is prompting you for a default cash account prior to an import or retrieve of transactions. If you're manually creating a new sub-portfolio, you won't automatically see this dialog. Instead, to set the default cash account, just go to the "Properties..." of the sub-portfolio and set your preference for the default cash account.

I didn't quite follow what you are doing with the sub-portfolios per year. This doesn't sound like a common use of sub-portfolios. Normally, you would keep all your transactions in a single investment, for all of time. You can then graph/report on any date range you want, it isn't necessary to break them into sub-portfolios by year. You may have your own needs, and you can use sub-portfolios however you wish though.

Every sub-portfolio can have its own default cash account assignment. Only transactions entered/imported/retrieved while this assignment is in place will have their corresponding entries placed into this default cash account. Just assigning a default cash account after the fact does not retroactively go back and cause corresponding entries to show up in the default cash account.

[akahrim]

Mark...I am trying to capture all my past transactions in FM. I am doing it by year for convenience because all my past records are collated and filed by year. I am using past brokerage account statements to find all buy/sell prices and transactions.

I also want to see my profit/loss by year and ROI by year. I hope at some point to see an all in ROI since my very first transaction to see if I am getting at least 10% ROI which is my long term target over time.

Do you have any suggestions to do this exercise.
Thx
AK

[Mark]

Hi AK,

I wouldn't suggest creating separate sub-portfolios by year. I would just create one sub-portfolio for your brokerage account. Create your investments using "File / New Investment...". Create an investment for your cash, and assign it as the default cash account before recording any of your transactions. You can record your transactions in any order, it doesn't matter. You can check your work as you go, by creating a report for any date range you want, to see your transactions/balances at any point in time.

You can also look at your profit/loss and ROI for any point in time, with a single sub-portfolio. Separating this into sub-portfolios by year will limit your ability to see the whole picture.

[akahrim]

Mark...I am back at this exercise. I have been back entering all transactions since my last post.
As you suggested I created sub-Portfolios for each Brokerage account as the years went by.
I have 8 of these sub-Portfolios under a main portfolio named "Owned". Here is a problem I encountered today.

When I enter a BUY in my RBC sub-Portfolio the corresponding SELL transaction is showing up in my TD sub-Portfolio (above the RBC sub-Portfolio). I saw this from a Transaction report of the TD sub-Portfolio.

I have a cash account linked to the TD sub-Portfolio. I do not have a cash account linked to the RBC sub-Portfolio.

How can I prevent a reverse transaction showing up in the TD sub-Portfolio when I entered the BUY in my RBC sub-Portfolio?

Thanks
AK

[Mark]

Hi AK,

Is the RBC sub-portfolio within the TD sub-portfolio in the hierarchy? You wouldn't want it to be. It should be at the same level, outside TD. Also, check the properties of your RBC sub-portfolio, and make sure the "Default Cash Account" property is set to "(none)".

[akahrim]

Mark...it is not. The RBC is a sub of the OWNED.
Default cash account for RBC is set to none.

Ignore the 2001 to 2006 ports they will be deleted.

thanks
AK

[Mark]

Hi AK,

What is the default cash account property of your "Owned" sub-portfolio set to?

Also, you can turn on "View / List Columns... / Default Cash Account" and verify what is shown for your RBC sub-portfolio. If RBC, or any parent of RBC has a default cash account set, then that will be used for RBC.

[akahrim]

Mark...the default of 'Owned" is set to TD cash acct.

Thus, the parent Portfolio "Owned" has it's cash acct set to the TD cash account, so that is the cause of my issue.

Thanks again. Still love working with FM.

AK