Share balance over time?
Is there any way to get a display of share balance at times other than the present? We are trying to track down inaccuracies in the number of mutual fund shares we own and I don't see any way to display total shares in the past (this is one of the things my wife complains about that she says was easy to do in quicken).
2 Posted by -Kevin N. on 10 Feb, 2011 09:07 PM
Hi zeke,
You can set the 'As of:' date in the Portfolio Report to the end dates of your monthly statements so you could then reconcile against them.
HTH -Kevin N.
Support Staff 3 Posted by Angie Rauscher on 12 Feb, 2011 04:51 AM
Zeke,
I think Kevin's "As of" suggestion will be the simplest and more effective. I hope it works for you, and Please let me know if I can be of further assistance,
Angie Rauscher
Moneydance Support
4 Posted by Debby on 25 Feb, 2012 06:58 PM
I agree with Zeke that a running share balance column is necessary on the investment register. MD register style doesn't differentiate between a mutual fund (for example) and an investment account where one might want to keep a cash balance for trading. For those of us who transfer among our funds or between a fund and a checking account, "Cash Balance" serves no purpose and is always 0 (zero). I would suggest that MD change it to "Share Balance" as it is in Quicken.
5 Posted by zeke on 25 Feb, 2012 10:35 PM
Debby
This same subject has come up in other threads with regard to issues like reconciling share balances. I don't recall that the responses were particularly encouraging. I believe there was a suggestion that a share balance column might be added in the future to the "security detail" display of transactions.
Support Staff 6 Posted by Ben Spencer on 25 Feb, 2012 11:50 PM
While there isn't a report that shows the number of shares owned over time you could run an "account balance" graph restricted just to the security in question and grouped by day. This will graph the number of shares owned in that security on each day.
Ben Spencer
Moneydance Support
7 Posted by Deborah Shanahan on 26 Feb, 2012 03:20 PM
Hi Ben,
Thanks for the reply.
Yes, there are things that I could do, but the practical thing for a
mutual fund account would be to have a shares balance column, rather
than a cash balance column, especially when the cash balance column
is full of 0s.
When I'm entering a lot of data, I want to be able to check for
blunders as I work. I want to see the results of my entries in a
balance column on the same page.
Moneydance looks nice. I hope that it will eventually become more
investment friendly.
Debby
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8 Posted by -Kevin N. on 26 Feb, 2012 06:02 PM
Hi Debby,
The 'Cash Balance' column in an Investment accuont serves it's purpose when the account holds multiple mutual funds which pay monthly dividends. If these dividends are not reinvested, the amount in the 'Cash Balance' represents the amount of shares required to purchase of the Money Market sweep fund.
For those that don't use a MM sweep fund, the 'Cash Balance' represents just that, their cash balance. I can't see doing away with it.
Per forum member zeke's poist # 5, I think that a running balance in the 'Securities Detail' view would serve those requiring this without adding undo clutter to the 'Register' view.
-Kevin N.
9 Posted by zeke on 26 Feb, 2012 10:49 PM
This has been discussed at length before. The proposed running balance in the Security detail view is in the nature of a workaround. The fact remains that the "investment account" in MD is not a good fit for investing in direct-buy mutual funds (in my opinion of course). In that scenario the "cash balance" is a totally fictitious thing. All transactions are directly between a bank account and shares in the mutual fund, including dividend distributions (unless automatically reinvested in shares), and a cash balance is literally nonexistent. As Debby says, one wants to check for errors as one enters data and reconcile against the share balance. This is awkward at best in MD and would still be so w/ the proposed workaround. The best solution would be for MD to add a "mutual fund" account type, as exists in Quicken and other software like GnuCash. This is what the MD staff has said is not going to happen.
10 Posted by Deborah Shanahan on 27 Feb, 2012 01:25 AM
True.
But MD needs to differentiate between portfolio accounts and accounts
for a single mutual fund. Those who take distributions in cash would
have the option of using the portfolio type account that MD now
provides and those who reinvest, would have the option of an account
appropriately dedicated to a single mutual fund.
I am coming from Quicken where the option has been available for a
long time and am astounded that the options for Macintosh Lion users
are so far behind.
Debby
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11 Posted by Deborah Shanahan on 27 Feb, 2012 02:15 AM
I think I wasted my money on MD (and iBank too), since have mutual
funds and do not have a portfolio of stocks in a brokerage account.
My work around will have to consist of keeping Quicken 2004 and
buying a good used ibook with leopard or snow leopard. I'll use it
only for Quicken.
Debby
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12 Posted by zeke on 27 Feb, 2012 02:44 AM
I tend to be fairly critical of MD but there is a lot to like about it too. It's not impossible to use with mutual funds, altho it's certainly not ideal. MD is also making an effort to increase the pace of development and hire more staff, so I'm not sure you should dismiss it as a waste of money w/o giving it some time.