How to handle TOS/Ameritrade change...?

[chancee]

I haven't begun the process yet, but does anyone know how to configure this change-over issue? I've been manually importing my monthly TOS statement from Penson... but now I'm supposed to access Ameritrade for my statements/records. How do I match the two accounts up in Fund Manager, and what about the fact that Ameritrade is probably setup for automatic downloads similar to Fidelity, etc. Already confused and I haven't even started dealing with it yet. -Chance

[Mark]

Hi Chance,

On your sub-portfolio for this account, right mouse click on it, and choose "Properties...". You'll just want to change the account number, and if you want to automatically retrieve from Ameritrade, click on the "Transaction Retrieve Settings..." button in this dialog, and set up your retrieve settings for Ameritrade. It really should be pretty easy, plus now you'll be able to retrieve transactions, instead of manually importing.

[chancee]

Mark... I'm not having very much luck. I've been fooling around with this situation for a couple of hours in a practice/duplicate portfolio and I'm not sure how it's ever going to work out. There are two big problems. First, after I change the info in the properties section of the sub-portfolio and update for the first time, I essentially get my whole portfolio piled on top of my current portfolio, doubling the amount of everything. (probably because according to Ameritrade, it looks like I just opened a new account with them with all the same positions I had at TOS.)

If I try a different way and update my TOS account through the day they actually transferred everything out... bringing me to almost zero, and then change the portfolio properties info and update with Ameritrade... I get a more accurate balance, but all of the reports and graphs showing portfolio gain, etc. are screwed up and show a huge increase on the day of the changeover. I really don't want all of my historical data for the TOS account to be tossed by the wayside because of this changeover. Any suggestions? Thanks.

Quick follow-up: Is there a way I can not accept the new transactions from Ameritrade? In other words, maybe I can run the last statement/update from TOS and uncheck where all the securities have been transferred out... then run the new Ameritrade update and uncheck where all the new securities are being transferred in, equaling everything out. But will Fund Manager keep trying to get me to accept the new transactions even after I've unchecked them?

[Mark]

Hi chancee,

Quick follow-up: Is there a way I can not accept the new transactions from Ameritrade? In other words, maybe I can run the last statement/update from TOS and uncheck where all the securities have been transferred out... then run the new Ameritrade update and uncheck where all the new securities are being transferred in, equaling everything out. But will Fund Manager keep trying to get me to accept the new transactions even after I've unchecked them?

Yes, this is a good way to do it. Just do not import the transfer out from TOS nor the transfer in from Ameritrade. When you do a transaction retrieve you can specify the date range for transactions to retrieve. You do not have to choose "All Dates". You can also un-check any transactions that you do not want to import when you see them on the Preview page. Just remove the check mark to the left of the transaction.

Fund Manager remembers your date of the last retrieve, and defaults you to start your next retrieve on this date. If you do re-retrieve for the dates of the transfers, they will show up again, but as long as you just retrieve for recent dates it will not be necessary to un-check them.

[chancee]

Mark... thanks for the response. Everything is working now. Much better with the automatic update.