Shorts, dividends and interest...

[tedzo]

Mark,
I am having a bit of trouble with 3 things-
First off, I am using the generic import functionality.

1. Say I have a stock X that gives a dividend. The dividend is not reinvested, meaning, the cash just goes to the cash account. How do I record this, meaning, what value should I use for TRAN? REINV_D or DIST_D? What should be the value for SYMB? Should it be X (the stock symbol) or Cash (or whatever is equivalent to cash in the portfolio)?

2. The cash in the account gives off some interest that also goes into the cash account. What values should I use for TRAN to represent this transaction?

3. I have some stocks that were shorted. How do I represent the short sale and buy to cover transactions?

4. What values should I use for TRAN for margin interest paid?

Thank you for your time.

[Mark]

Hi tedzo,

1) You would use DIST_D with the symbol for stock X. If you have a default cash account assigned for the sub-portfolio holding stock X, these proceeds will automatically be deposited into the default cash account. If you don't use a default cash account, and want to import this cash deposit, you would have a 2nd transaction which is a BUY into the cash investment.

2) REINV_I. Keep the price at $1, and shares = value.

3) SELL is for either selling long or short. BUY is for buying either long or to cover short.

4) It depends what category of distribution you want to put this in. You could use either REINV_I to categorize as interest, or REINV_O if you want to put it in the 'other' distribution type. In both cases the value and shares would be negative, since it is a negative distribution (you are paying, not receiving). As far as performance, it doesn't matter whether the negative distribution is categorized as interest or other.