need some guidance in importing TDAmeritrade transactions

[shalam]

hi there. i have been unsuccessful in adopting the software for my needs.

my needs as of this point are rather simple.

1. be able to evaluate performance of my portfolio against a benchmark (NAV like performance, which nets out deposits and withdrawals)
2. be able to see what the true return of holding a stock is - therefore important that dividends be included when i measure stock performance

assuming these are possible, please help me with next steps.

i tried the following:
1. created a portfolio and started importing transactions from TDAmeritrade
2. encountered problems: lots of securities that are not real securities but seem to show up because of sweep transactions in TDAmeritrade.
One tidbit: Several of the positions were transferred into TDAmeritrade, therefore the original buy transaction will not be found at TDAmeritrade.

Can you advice how I can go about the process of adopting Fund Manager?

I will admit, I feel a bit intimidated by the complexity and capability of the software. I worry if for my basic needs as outlined above, I might be getting into something rather complex. But I have not found any other simpler solution either.

Thanks for your help!

[Mark]

Hi shalam,

How many extra securities come down from TD Ameritrade, that are not part of your portfolio? Are all your non-cash investments coming down okay? Assuming so, I would suggest just closing anything you don't recognize, and leave yourself with a single cash investment for your default cash account. You would want a default cash account, so you can keep track of the cash in your account.

To close an investment, right mouse click on it, and choose "Close".

To edit the transactions (which affect how many shares you own), use the Data Register, with the "Investments (All)" data type selected.

Once you have all your investments with the right balances, make sure your cash account is assigned as the default cash account under the "Properties..." of your sub-portfolio.

You may also want to read about how a default cash account is used here:

http://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/help ... _cash.html

If you don't have the full history available at TD Ameritrade, you may want to manually edit some of the initial purchase transactions to enter the real data. Again you do this in the Data Register.

You may also want to stop and take some time to watch our "Getting Started" and "Data Register" tutorials. You can find them here:

http://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/tutorial_list.html

[shalam]

hey mark, thanks a bunch for your reply. believe me i did try to go through the tutorial. and i think i understand the process and am doing it fine.

question really is related to the peculiarity associated with my case because of TDAm. basically there are a lot of "sweep into cash acct" and "Reverse from cash account" transactions and each appears to show up as a currency.

makes me wonder if i should export only those transactions that matter using the TDAmeritrade interface and use those. let me try the approach you have suggested and report back.

thanks again.

[shalam]

what should one do for investments that have been completely sold? should i close them like you have advised in the earlier post.

i do not want to see them all the time. but i would like to see them when i look at the cap gains report and i would like to see their effect when i do a portfolio performance report.

and i would like to see them if i try to see investment-wise performance assessment.

[Mark]

Hi shalam,

You should "hide" them. This is different from closing, you generally do not want to close an investment when you have sold it. For instructions, and more detail, please read:

http://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/faq_hide_sold.php