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Vanguard Brokerage Balances Untimely and Don't Match Between Screens

TomAter

Quick Summary - Vanguard Brokerage updates rarely provide up to date balances throughout the day, and more importantly, don't provide correct balances (often) after close of business (COB). Balances on the accounts on the Transactions tab don't match Market value on the Investments Portfolio tab or the "Balance today" on the Investments Balances tab.

Additional details - the account balances on the Transactions tab is often more correct than the other two screens discussed above. Still, they often don't reflect the correct final balance for the day after COB. FYI, there is usually about a 20 minute delay with Vanguard on account balance information so I typically don't see the final balance as of COB until about 4:20PM, Eastern time zone. My guess (based on my observations) is Simplify does its final update around 4:00PM, Eastern. Why the balances don't match between screens is unknown and I can't find any discussions explaining why. These issues follow between the web page and the mobile apps (iPad and iPhone).

FYI, I'm running a side by side between Quicken Classic (Mac) and Simplifi. I'm enjoying Simplifi and want to make the move so Simplifi permanently when my Classic license expires in October. I have been a Quicken Windows/Mac user for about 30 years and a Quicken Classic Mac Beta Tester for about 10 years. Quicken Classic updates with Vanguard (with the 20 minute lag) all day and closes the day with the correct balance.

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Comments

Coach Jon

Hello @TomAter,

Thank you for reaching out! To answer your question, the most likely reason for seeing different values is that investment data gets updated two different ways. Some investment data, like the value you see on the accounts sidebar, comes directly from the financial institution (if it's a connected account). The values are updated during nightly aggregation, but in connected accounts, may be updated as frequently as every 4 hours. The data in the investments tab comes from our service provider and is updated when new information is available.

For more information on how investment information is updated, please see this article: https://support.simplifi.quicken.com/en/articles/5167335-how-do-my-investment-balances-update

-Coach Jon

TomAter

I've read the article before. However, let's review what I was trying to tell you. Simplifi is not getting an update to Vanguard (a connected account) until the wee hours of the morning at the earliest because I don't see it match Vanguard's site until I get up in the morning. So I'm just suggesting you pull the data a little later than you're currently doing and at least after 4:20PM Eastern (market close plus lag time). Your service provider seems to do the same but often it's a day or two behind before they match up with the connected account info. I don't why you would be using an aggregator when you have my connected account anyway, but we'll save that for later.

The user is purchasing Simplifi to put everything as we say in the business under one pane of glass (on the same screen). The info needs to be up to date and accurate. Quicken Classic has been providing real time updates (with the 20 minute delay) forever. This seems like a relatively trivial fix. More of a bug than new feature/functionality.

Coach Jon

Hello @TomAter,

Thanks for the reply. Quicken Classic and Quicken Simplifi are separate programs that work differently in some ways. I can definitely understand your frustration here, but this would not be a bug. This idea post may be something you would like to vote for and follow for updates!

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/6556/investment-balances-should-be-consistent-across-the-app

-Coach Jon

TomAter

Thank you for your assistance, however, I don't feel that it addresses the core issue. I want to clarify and need to stress that it appears to be more of an OPERATIONAL issue than a coding issue. The referenced discussion addresses somewhat differently the sync between cards/screens. I'm suggesting that the close of market balances AND holdings information could be resolved by SIMPLY polling the data more often and later. When I try to do an update after 4:00PM eastern I get NO updates and my balances are off by thousands and sometimes tens of thousands dollars after market close. Nothing I've heard addresses this. Admittedly I'm hindered by over 40 years in the IT industry but like so many I've done this for a living and this makes no sense.

Coach Jon

Hello @TomAter,

I can understand your frustration, however, Quicken Simplifi does have an aggregation limit of every 4-6 hours. We would not be able to refresh more often as you are wanting, at least at this time. I am sorry I could not be more helpful here.

-Coach Jon

TomAter

Please reference the link below for history. The issue is so severe that Quicken Simplifi should consider taking down the Investments feature as it is so inaccurate and untimely it is detrimental to the product's viability in general. I'm trying to migrate off Quicken Classic, but this is a showstopper. Giving you the opportunity to address the bug before referring it to Eric Dunn.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/11622/vanguard-brokerage-balances-untimely-and-dont-match-between-screens

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