Fidelity retrieve transactions duplicated

[MartyP]

While retrieving dividend reinvestment transactions on 2-6-24 from my Fidelity accounts I noticed the dividend reinvestment transactions from 2-1-2022 forward were duplicated.
Prior to 2024 the retrieved transaction were a single line entry in FM that looked like the following (apologies that my headings don't align to the amounts):
Example 1
Date Price Shares Total Fee Type Memo
10/31/23 8.889 27.214 241.93 0.00 Dividend Reinvestment Dividend Received; Rinvestment

Starting with January 2024 transactions, the downloaded dividend reinvestments in FM looked like Example 2 that follows:
Example 2
Date Price Shares Total Fee Type Memo
1/31/24 9.560 25.078 239.75 0.00 Purchase Reinvestment
1/31/24 239.75 Dividend Dividend Received

And most frustratingly, for previously retrieved transactions, each entry that used to look like example 1, now has an additional entry that looks like example 2 which creates a double entry for previously retrieved transactions and so the transaction has 3 lines.

In the Cash register for example 1, there was a 2 line entry showing the dividend distribution (a positive amount) and another line showing the purchase of more shares (a negative amount)

In the Cash register for example 2, there is now a single line entry listed as a purchase (a positive number).

Its seems to me that 1) that Fidelity has changed the way transactions are retrieved; and 2) I have hundreds and hundreds of transactions in which transactions that are in the format of example 1 will have to be deleted.

My retrieval settings have always been to download all transactions and skip those already downloaded.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Marty

[Mark]

Hi Marty,

Do you have on the option:

Retrieve Transactions / Import Options: / Advanced Options... / Record Matching Purchase/Distribution as Reinvestment

? It kind of sounds like it used to be on, so everything was getting recorded as a single reinvestment, and now it is off, so you're getting separate distribution/purchase transactions.

[MartyP]

Your analysis is correct; none of the 4 boxes in Advanced Options are checked. (Big thank you!)
I did not knowingly uncheck them but I would like to have some confidence that returning to the defaults will not affect transactions prior to January 2024. It certainly seems like I should be using the defaults and may very well have all along until January 2024. Is there a way you can determine from a log file when the Advanced Options boxes became unchecked? Any help from a log file?

PS: I used Restore to return to a point in time before the duplicate transactions began showing up.

Thank you.
Marty

[Mark]

Hi Marty,

Glad that was the problem. Changing those options does not affect any currently recorded transactions, it only affects new transactions you retrieve. Sorry, no, there is no log file that would show when/how those options changed.

[MartyP]

As always, thank you Mark.

[JeanneMarie]

This option is on for all of my accounts and the results are unpredictable to say the least. At least I finally saw why reconciling my cash was such an issue so frequently.

Not only are reinvestments sometimes correct and sometimes missing, but sometimes I have BOTH the dividend AND a reinvestment PLUS a purchase. Fidelity it worse than Merrill Lynch but, then, I have way more reinvesting mutual funds in that account.

After all the tedious tweaking I've just finished, I certainly have learned enough to keep things orderly going forward. So I'm just checking in here to share experience and to find out whether there is any other wisdom to absorb.

Thanks for listening.

[Mark]

Hi JeanneMarie,

So, are you currently experiencing any problems with retrieving?

[JeanneMarie]

Retrieving always seems to go smoothly. I was just baffled about why cash was always off by so much when reconciling. So I didn't think of my problem as a retrieval problem.

I honestly can't tell you what was the most recent date with a problem, just that there were a lot over longer than I'd like to admit.

I just finished cleaning up and everything reconciles. If I see it again, I can post, in case I can supply any useful information in a timely manner for you. For the moment, I have nothing more to report.

However, if my digging into a backup would be useful for you, I can do that.

[Mark]

Hi JeanneMarie,

No need to look for a backup. The key thing with reconciliation is to just make sure you start reconciled as of some date, and all the transactions are recorded properly since that last reconciliation date. Reconciling simply compares share balances in FM with your broker's statement. The share balance is what you started with, and then any changes are from transactions. You might like to watch this Reconciliation Tutorial for some tips.

[JeanneMarie]

Thanks, Mark, but the mechanics of reconciling any account are very familiar and, in fact, Fund Manager is remarkably friendly out of the box. But nothing in your video suggests how to trouble-shoot discrepancies, common problems to look for.

The major part of my problem was being kind of inattentive. This is not my business and sometimes a couple of weeks can go by in between Fund Manager sessions. If "only" my cash balance was strangely off, I'd scratch my head but it was easy enough to "fix" the cash balance with a fudge entry and hope that some day I'd get around to figuring it out. Mea culpa.

What have I learned in the past 24 hours?

(a) I didn't fully appreciate the interdependence between the dividend payments in a mutual fund's data register and the entries in the cash account's data register--the underlying mechanics. Suddenly(!), it is blindingly obvious that no cash entries should be there in the MMF if the dividend is being reinvested.

(b) I never dreamed that a broker would send such hare-brained transactions, and it's tough to notice something you're not looking for. As I said, I didn't only get the unmatched dividend + purchase (which one might blame on FM failing to match). But sometimes I ALSO got the reinvestment transaction. Yes, three transactions for a single dividend payment. Go figure.

Thanks for your continued work here.