Moving Cash from One MMA to Another.

[aviator]

Hi Mark,

I have a situation where I need to move cash from one money market fund to another, both of which are in the same sub-portfolio. What's the best way to do this?

Specifics:
1) Currently, I have two money market funds in the same account, but are different funds.
2) OldFund is going away, and all money in OldFund needs to move to NewFund (already exists in the account with a small balance).
3) Seems that "Transfer-Out" (of OldFund) and "Transfer-In" (to NewFund) is the way to go, but not sure if that's right for intra-account transfers.

Please advise. Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi aviator,

You could do it that way, or you could just use a buy and sell. I prefer buy/sell over transfers in this case because they are simpler. Usually with cash you're not concerned with cost basis and gains/losses, so a transfer isn't necessary. The main differences between buy/sell and transfer in/out is with transfers you can specify a different cost basis date/value compared to the amount transferred, and transfer out transactions don't generate a capital gain entry, like a sell normally would. By default, cash transactions aren't included in the capital gains report anyway, so these aren't important factors for cash. To keep things simple I'd just just a sell and a buy.

[aviator]

Thanks, Mark.

You're right, in both accounts costs basis = market value. And both funds have a share price of $1.

Thanks for your help.

[Ivan]

Hi Mark,

I have exactly the same issue. Do I need to set the default cash account to "none" before doing the sell and buy, or at least before doing the buy? Or would it work to first set the new fund as the default cash account and then do just the sell to let the money fall into the new account?

Thanks,
Ivan

[Mark]

Hi Ivan,

If both of your cash investments are in the same sub-portfolio, and one is assigned as the default cash account you can just record your buy/sell in the non-default cash investment, and FM will automatically record the other corresponding sell/buy in your default cash account.