Need Tutorial for Entering Existing Investment Portfolio
I am a new user and have not been able to find a tutorial (step 1, step 2, etc.) on how to enter my portfolio of securities into Moneydance. I assume it will need to be done manually for my E*Trade brokerage only exports in either ofx or the useless comma delimited format. How do I manually enter my data? Which of the many fields on the Register are applicable? I sent a Dec 29th request for help from Moneydance support but they've not responded. I've downloaded Chapter 7 Investments of the manual and find it both confusing and incomplete for use as a tutorial guide (it's more like a dictionary than a guide). Despite my inclination to seek a refund I'm still hopeful of some direction that will help me to better understand the process for entering my existing investment portfolio data.
Comments are currently closed for this discussion. You can start a new one.
Keyboard shortcuts
Generic
| ? | Show this help |
|---|---|
| ESC | Blurs the current field |
Comment Form
| r | Focus the comment reply box |
|---|---|
| ^ + ↩ | Submit the comment |
You can use Command ⌘ instead of Control ^ on Mac
1 Posted by -Kevin N. on 04 Jan, 2018 09:42 PM
Hi Bond,
Entering securities is a 3-step process in Moneydance.
Step 1) Add the security to Moneydance. (So that it can be shared across any of your accounts that hold it).
Menu bar > Tools > Securities > (+) > Fill in the particulars of the security.
Make sure to match the 'Max Decimal Places' entry to the number of decimal places of shares that your broker provides. (this value can NOT be changed later).
Step 2) Add the security to an account.
From the investment account's 'Security Details', click the 'Add Security' button.
In the resulting window, select the desired security from the 'Security' drop-down list. (As a reminder, do not create more than one instance of any given security) You can add any given security to any investment account from the list of securities that you created in Step 1.
Step 3) Enter a 'Buy' transaction for the security into the register of the investment account.
This is pretty straight forward. The only real concern here should be on how the purchase is funded.
You can choose to fund the purchase from another account which would involve a 'BuyXfr' transaction rather than a 'Buy' or you can simply enter an 'Initial Balance' into the account's properties to cover the cost of the purchase.
To do so, while viewing the account in question > Menu bar > Account > Edit Account.
In the resulting window, you can enter / edit the 'Initial Balance' field.
I hope this helps to clear things up a bit. Feel free to post back if you have any specific issues.
-Kevin N. (not a member of MD support)
2 Posted by -Kevin N. on 04 Jan, 2018 09:57 PM
Hi Bond,
I failed to mention that you should be able to import the E*Trade OFX file directly into your investment account(s).
-Kevin N. (not a member of MD support)
3 Posted by bond.shands on 04 Jan, 2018 10:12 PM
Many, many thanks for the help. I tried importing the OFX file but it kept prompting me for "matching questions" responses that I failied to comprehend, so I gave up on that route.
I have a number of questions but will limit the initial ones to your Step 1 discussion. The "New Security" box calls for seven categories of information (Security ID, Security Name, Ticker Tymbol, Price, Value Prefix, Value Suffix, and Max. Decimal Places). I have no idea what Security ID, Value Prefix and Value Suffix are. As for the Price, since it doesn't call for number of shares, I'm really confused by which price is needed. Is current market price, price I paid for the first lot, average price for all lots?
There's also another ADD SECURITY with the heading "Account US Dollar". I assume it's one I don't use if I've already used the New Security box.
Thanks again,
Bond
At 01:57 PM 1/4/2018, -Kevin N. wrote:
- Hi Bond,
- Entering securities is a 3-step process in Moneydance.
- Step 1) Add the security to Moneydance. (So that it can be shared across any of your accounts that hold it).
- Menu bar > Tools > Securities > (+) > Fill in the particulars of the security.
- Make sure to match the 'Max Decimal Places' entry to the number of decimal places of shares that your broker provides. (this value can NOT be changed later).
- Step 2) Add the security to an account.
- From the investment account's 'Security Details', click the 'Add Security' button.
- In the resulting window, select the desired security from the 'Security' drop-down list. (As a reminder, do not create more than one instance of any given security) You can add any given security to any investment account from the list of securities that you created in Step 1.
- Step 3) Enter a 'Buy' transaction for the security into the register of the investment account.
- This is pretty straight forward. The only real concern here should be on how the purchase is funded.
- You can choose to fund the purchase from another account which would involve a 'BuyXfr' transaction rather than a 'Buy' or you can simply enter an 'Initial Balance' into the account's properties to cover the cost of the purchase.
- To do so, while viewing the account in question > Menu bar > Account > Edit Account.
- In the resulting window, you can enter / edit the 'Initial Balance' field.
- I hope this helps to clear things up a bit. Feel free to post back if you have any specific issues.
- -Kevin N. (not a member of MD support)
Need Tutorial for Entering Existing Investment Portfoliohttp://help.infinitekind.comthis page
Bond Shands - 1592 S. Compadre Rd - Palm Springs CA 92264
Home Phone: 760-459-5059 | Cell Phone: 760-774-0173
My Notebook Blog - www.BondShands.com
Twitter: @BondShands | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bond.shands
4 Posted by -Kevin N. on 04 Jan, 2018 10:35 PM
Hi Bond,
TBH, I have no idea what the 'Security ID' field is for either. Ignore it.
It has been my experience that the Value Prefix and Suffix entries only really apply to how the security is presented in reports. They have no other intrinsic value. You can safely ignore them as well.
The Price field is carried over to the register for when you enter your first 'Buy' transaction for that particular security. It is also carried over to the 'History' table for that security. It can be changed during the entry of the 'Buy' transaction and can be changed in the 'History' table so it doesn't really have any lasting presence in the program. If I remember correctly, I just left it at the default setting of 1.
Let me point you to a Moneydance KB article that describes the fields in a little more detail.
http://help.infinitekind.com/kb/investment-accounts/adding-securities
-Kevin N. (not a member of MD support)
5 Posted by -Kevin N. on 04 Jan, 2018 10:55 PM
Hi Bond,
I failed to mention that Yes, you are correct. The 'New Security' button in the 'Add Security' form should be disregarded.
Clicking on it presents you with the same options as adding a new security to the program.
I don't particularly like using it or instructing others to use it because it tends to leave the impression that you're only adding the security to that particular account rather than adding it to the program's entire list of securities.
-Kevin N. (not a member of MD support)
6 Posted by bond.shands on 05 Jan, 2018 12:02 AM
Thanks for the detailed response. As for the Help article link, I had already checked it out, but would recommend it be expanded to include the information you provided about the individual fields. I'll now take another stab at entering my securities into Moneydance.
Bond
At 02:55 PM 1/4/2018, -Kevin N. wrote:
- Hi Bond,
- TBH, I have no idea what the 'Security ID' field is for either. Ignore it.
- It has been my experience that the Value Prefix and Suffix entries only really apply to how the security is presented in reports. They have no other intrinsic value. You can safely ignore them as well.
- The Price field is carried over to the register for when you enter your first 'Buy' transaction for that particular security. It is also carried over to the 'History' table for that security. It can be changed during the entry of the 'Buy' transaction and can be changed in the 'History' table so it doesn't really have any lasting presence in the program. If I remember correctly, I just left it at the default setting of 1.
- Let me point you to a Moneydance KB article that describes the fields in a little more detail.
- http://help.infinitekind.com/kb/investment-accounts/adding-securities
- -Kevin N. (not a member of MD support)
Need Tutorial for Entering Existing Investment Portfoliohttp://help.infinitekind.comthis page
Bond Shands - 1592 S. Compadre Rd - Palm Springs CA 92264
Home Phone: 760-459-5059 | Cell Phone: 760-774-0173
My Notebook Blog - www.BondShands.com
Twitter: @BondShands | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bond.shands
7 Posted by -Kevin N. on 05 Jan, 2018 12:05 AM
Hi Bond,
You're welcome. I'm glad to be of help.
-Kevin N.
System closed this discussion on 06 Apr, 2018 12:10 AM.