Retained distributions

[MartyP]

In my sub-portfolios I wish to keep track of distributed dividends not reinvested but available for use as income. I believe that the custom field named "Retained dist (btw)" is intended to do this based on the premise that the amount of a distribution within a sub-portfolio that is not reinvested back into the investment and that has a matching transaction in the default cash account would be considered retained.

In FM I am seeing 'retained funds' per my assumption above listed as reinvested. This is not incorrect because the amount is reinvested is in the money market mutual fund in my Fidelity core account which is my default cash account in FM and it is "available" for use as income but it's not listed as retained. Should I be able to see the amount in the retained field?

Thanks!
Marty

PS: On Fidelity's statement this kind of activity is pooled with other similar activities in the core account. After some time has passed it is not easy to track the Core account transactions.

[MartyP]

2 other observations regarding Retained distributions...
1) When I created a custom distribution report that includes the Retained dist (btw) field, a mysterious amount of $1975 appears in the retained column sum that doesn't appear in any line item that is summed even with hidden transactions ON. I found no other entry of $1975 in my FM but that doesn't mean too much.

2) Similar to the above but in a different sub-portfolio in the same custom report, Retained dist (btw) column sum contains an real non-reinvested dividend amount of $63 I found listed on a line in the Div dist (btw) field and in the Total Dist (btw) field but without a corresponding entry in the Retained dist (btw) column.

Other than the above, the Retained column contains nothing but zeros except of course for subtotals that include the above numbers.

I'm not sure of the cause of this. Any help gratefully appreciated.

Thanks!
Marty

[Mark]

Hi Marty,

To help understand numbers you're seeing here, you can create a Custom report with the fields:

Distributed distributions (between)
Retained dist. distributions (between)
Withdrawn dist. distributions (between)

So, you can see the total, and how much of that total was retained, and how much was removed from the account.

To dive down another layer, you can find the specific transactions that were considered withdrawn by creating an Investment Transactions report with the filter options:

Include Only Portfolio External Transactions (Contributions/Withdrawals): ON
Filter by Transaction: Distributed Distributions (all types) ON, but all other transaction types (like purchases/redemptions) turned OFF

This will show you which transactions make up the Withdrawn dist. distributions (between) amount.

[MartyP]

Mark-
Thanks for the reply! Regarding case 2 in my post, the $63 Fidelity transaction was an IVV dividend received and deposited in the core account. Only the investment name, transaction type and the total value was retrieved from Fidelity.
In your suggested custom report I see:
Investment = IVV
Dist. dist (btw)= 63
Retained dist (btw)=0
Withdrawn dist (btw)=63
Reinv dist=0
Total dist=63

Subtotal line for this portfolio I see:
Portfolio name
Dist. dist (btw)= 63
Retained dist (btw)=63
Withdrawn dist (btw)=0
Reinv dist=0
Total dist=63

I think the explanation is the $63 IVV dividend was withdrawn to purchase core account money market shares. From the portfolio perspective, the $63 is retained but not withdrawn. Correct?

Case 1 was the initial focus of my attention due to the portfolio size but the explanation is similar except in that portfolio some investments with a mix of reinvested and withdrawn amounts making it harder to understand.

Understanding the definition of Withdrawn distributions vs Retained distributions and the subtotal line interpretation were essential!
Thank you!
Marty

[Mark]

I think the explanation is the $63 IVV dividend was withdrawn to purchase core account money market shares. From the portfolio perspective, the $63 is retained but not withdrawn. Correct?

Hi Marty,

Yes, this is correct. The "retained" and "withdrawn" are relative to each line.

[MartyP]

Thanks for your excellent support!
Marty