Investment Total Cost & Gains: Share your feedback here!

Coach Natalie · September 12

With the new Investment Cost Basis & Profit feature, we want to hear from our Early Access users! Please comment below to tell us how this feature enhances your investment tracking abilities in Quicken Simplifi. We want to hear all feedback, as well as any issues that come up!

For more details on this new feature, please see our announcement here:

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/10197/new-feature-alert-investment-cost-basis-profit

We can't wait to hear from you!

SRC54 · September 12

I noticed it last night and Schwab handled the change just fine but Fidelity (Shock) not so well as Cost Basis was not automatic, and there were some errors:

In my Brokerage Account, it lists my Core Cash Account not by its FZFXX name but my some CUSIP? number. It shouldn't be there at all as I have no holdings currently. It does correctly list holdings as 0 but won't let me update the price to $1 so that I could get rid of the Orange Triangle to update the Cost Basis, which is 0.00 obviously. There is also no way to change the name to FZFXX. I was able to add the Cost Basis to my other securities though.

In my IRA, I also have one security with a number instead of FJRLX. And worse, it has an incorrect number of shares. I am missing about 15 shares. Again no way to update number or shares or name. I did manage to add the Cost Basis for all the Securities in the IRA including this erroneous one.

I await hearing from @Coach Natalie as to what I should do to fix this. I thought about changing them to manual accounts and reconnecting but will hold off.

Bgz · September 12

This is one of the features that I was eagerly waiting for to have all my investment accounts in one place. Here are some of my thoughts/ feedback-

I have investment/ retirement accounts in Fidelity and E-trade, TIAA, and Robinhood. Only Robinhood has automatically added the cost basis. So more work needs to be done to ensure all of the major brokerages are compatible with Simplifi and auto download the cost basis. Adding manually would take quite a bit of time which I am hoping I can avoid.
I am also confused by the information found in "Add the total cost basis for your holdings to see your profit. Learn more" prompt. What is total cost basis? Does it mean total value of all my shares TODAY or when I bought it? More appropriate term to use would be "Average Cost basis" as we are not adding cost basis for each share. It is average of all shares bought at multiple points of time at varying prices.
Simplifi can go one or 2 steps further to provide additional level of detail with cost basis for each share. I understand there may be limitations on how much data Simplifi is able to access. But if this were to be implemented, all of us will have to go to our brokerage account only to buy or sell. Rest all could be theoretically achieved in Simplifi. Wouldn't that be a powerful thing for Simplifi?
Profit should be renamed to "Gain or Loss" to account for shares that are in the red.
It would be good to see Total gain or loss in $ or percent.

yfor11 · September 12

I like the idea but I could not see any data coming from my Fidelity accounts. Entering the information manually is too tedious and I can always get the information at the Fidelity web site.

Bgz · September 13

I am also curious to understand how the cost basis will be affected if I enter it manually now but buy more of the same stocks at a different price. Do I have to edit the cost basis again? If that’s the case, this feature won’t be as useful for me and others.

If it is auto downloaded, will the average cost basis be updated with every refresh?

Coach Natalie · September 13

@SRC54, since downloaded holdings are locked in on the ticker and the price per share, you won't be able to edit those aspects. It is most likely Fidelity providing the data this way. I tested making my connected investment account manual to see if I could then edit the holdings, but it still wouldn't let me. Since it sounds like what you're reporting is separate from the Cost Basis & Profit feature (meaning it exists separately from the new feature), can you create a separate post if you want to do some troubleshooting, please?

As for the rest of the questions asked in this thread, I have inquired and will post back as soon as I receive a response. I also inquired about Fidelity specifically to see if they support Cost Basis downloads.

Thanks for all of the feedback and questions thus far!

-Coach Natalie

SRC54 · September 13

@Coach Natalie Yes, I reset the account last night and it is still in error, but it is right in Quicken Classic. It is very possible that the error pre-existed since I don't pay too much attention to my IRA investments. BTW, it's wrong on the Portfolio Page but the overall total is correct on Balances Page.

I will make a separate post for the bug as you suggest. I do think the Ticker Symbol was replaced by the number by the update though. I would just delete the IRA account and start over to see if that fixes it, but won't that wipe out historical data? I don't care about the reinvestment transactions since they are just there for information. I do think we ought to be able to update the Ticker Symbol and the prices though. Thanks.

Coach Natalie · September 13

@SRC54, if you delete and re-add an account, you will lose historical data. But depending on what type of historical data you're referring to, Quicken Simplifi allows imports, such as importing historical account balances. You can try making the account manual to disconnect it from the bank, and then re-link it. This latter option will retain historical data, but may potentially not be as effective in seeing if a full delete/re-add would resolve the problem. But you can certainly try it!

https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/5321064-how-to-make-an-account-manual#h_8ccbaa06e5

https://help.simplifimoney.com/en/articles/4959544-how-to-link-accounts#h_1e4aff1120

On the other hand, I have some good news! Our product team is actually planning to implement the ability to edit downloaded tickers, so this will be coming at some point in the near future.

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/3283/edit-ticker-symbol-and-holdings

Thanks!

-Coach Natalie

SRC54 · September 13

@Coach Natalie Thanks, and I probably will try it over the weekend when Fidelity Server isn't too busy.

SRC54 · September 14

@Coach Natalie Well, I fixed the IRA. I made it a manual account and deleted the bad holding and added it back with the correct name and shares as well as the Cost Basis. Once I reconnected it to Fidelity (I had to make all my Fidelity accounts manual and delete the Bank first), it was correct! So I didn't have to delete the account.

Unfortunately, with the Brokerage Account showing the 0 holding for Core Account, I deleted it too, but it came back once I reconnected and with wrong name and 0 holding and the Orange Triangle that my Cost Basis is incomplete. I try to update it but it won't let me. Not with any amount as the shares are 0! And I cannot edit that. I will just have to live with that until the 30th when I get dividends that will automatically be sold into that Core Cash Account. I guess I had better leave $1 in there. Usually I transfer it all to my checking account as supplemental income. Don't get excited; it ain't much!😁

Hope some of this information is useful.

WJB · September 14

Good addition. Similar issues in Fidelity as other posters:

doesn't auto-download cost basis (not a big deal)
downloads a random cusip (all numbers) in several accounts with a $0 balance. I can't erase this holding (not a big deal) and can't input/update the cost basis, so Simplifi reports an "incomplete" rather than showing total returns for the account - seems like Simplifi should automatically ignore cost basis info for $0 line items
Would be a nice addition to have an option to input individual lot cost basis (even better if it's pulled automatically from the brokerage). A corresponding feature would be to have any new "sell" transactions link back to the applicable "buy" transactions so capital gains could be tracked.

SRC54 · September 14

Thanks @WJB . I added $10 in cash to the Brokerage Account but won't be effective until Monday or Tuesday just to see how the Brokerage Account handles that! LOL

jayqwu · September 15

It would be nice to have an option to hide the cost basis and profit info. For accounts/institutions (like Betterment) that don't automatically share cost basis, having to manually go in and update the cost basis every time a new trade is made would be incredibly tedious, especially for a roboadvisor. I would rather hide that info and not see all the missing data warnings.

I also accidentally manually set the cost basis for one of my funds, and there was no option to delete the cost basis (only to set it to zero or something). That would be good to have as well.

Bgz · September 15

I agree. Having to manually enter cost basis is too tedious and will also introduce inaccuracies with future buys. In such instances it is better to completely not use this feature at all. This promising feature goes only half way thereby missing the mark.

I wonder if not understanding the basics of stock investments and associated terminologies is a reason for this half hearted feature which sees it purely as profit or loss. There is a lot more complexity involved. Those involved need to look at the big picture to have strong investment tracking features as a package rather than piece meal approach which doesn’t help anyone. Would suggest looking at major brokerages for what they offer and see what is achievable within Simplifi. I am happy to talk to someone if that will help to explain what is needed for stock market investors. Overall there is lots of room for improvement but I am confident Simplifi will eventually get it right.

Coach Natalie · September 16

Hey everyone, here is some info from our product team:

Fidelity does not support cost basis download.
Total Cost Basis is the total value when you bought it, which needs to be added up if you have bought shares at different times.
If you buy more, you will have to re-enter the new total for all shares.
If the data is downloaded, the cost basis (which is total, not average) will be updated with every refresh. However, it will be the same unless you have bought or sold shares in the meantime.
Average cost basis is calculated by taking the Total Cost Basis and dividing it by the number of shares. We don’t currently display the average cost basis anywhere but are considering adding it because it’s helpful to know if you buy more shares and want to see if you are spending more than your average or if it’s under the average on a per-share basis.

I hope this helps add insight!

-Coach Natalie

Bgz · September 16

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/40966#Comment_40966

Thank you for the clarification.

Unfortunately, it sounds like this feature (as it is stands currently) will not be useful for me and many others who invest regularly and buy multiple shares. Hope we get more functionality with average cost basis, multiple lot information, and auto downloads to major brokerages in the future. I will wait until then… I will not be adding total cost basis manually.

mtrow28 · September 17

I keep getting "cost basis incomplete" on various holdings, even though the cost basis has been entered. Through exploration, the primary culprit seems to be fractional shares. If I enter a whole number for shares of a position, I don't get the error, but if I enter a fractional share, it alerts "cost basis incomplete", and also does not add that position total to the portfolio profit total. This seems to be primarily happening with crypto positions. As an FYI, I do not have investments synced with any brokerage account. All positions are manually entered and modified.

Coach Natalie · September 17

@mtrow28, thanks for posting!

I'm not personally seeing any issues with entering the cost basis for a fractional share. To clarify, are the crypto holdings in question entered as a 'Holding' in Quicken Simplifi? If so, do you use a valid ticker symbol, or did you create your own, or anything along those lines? Have you tried deleting and recreating one of the holdings and entering the cost basis during creation to see if that works for you?

Please let us know so we can best assist!

-Coach Natalie

SRC54 · September 17

@Coach Natalie @WJB Update: After buying $10 into my Core Account at Fidelity Brokerage, I was able to edit the share cost ($1) and cost basis ($10). Moreover the Cusip Number went away replaced by the Ticker Symbol! Of course, it now says FZFXX-FZFXX instead of FZFXX - Fidelity Treasury Money Market. Still look forward to being able to edit Ticker and Name as in Quicken Classic.

I hope Fidelity will one day support Cost Basis download, but I notice in Quicken Classic, it is not always right either, but this could be because I dropped Quicken and went back to it after a couple of years and have gaps.

BhupeshGajria · September 19

There has to be a simpler way of doing this… use the transactions entry for cost basis. Why make someone enter the cost twice?

Also if I purchased a stock today for $50 lets say 5 stock units, my cost today is $250. After 1 week I purchase 5 units again at $40 a total of $200… I will need to modify the cost basis to 450 manually. That is why use the transaction type

Lastly and most important, instead of just absolute% return, you should show XIRR% - that is the real return

mtrow28 · September 19

@Coach Natalie Crypto holdings are manually entered as a Holding, using the ticker symbol that already exists within Simplifi. I deleted the holding and recreated it, entered the cost basis during creation as suggested, same result. I have a red triangle next to the profit number for the holding stating "Total Cost Basis missing or inaccurate".

Coach Natalie · September 19

@mtrow28, thanks for the reply!

Can you send some screenshots of what you're seeing so I can take a closer look, please? We may end up escalating what you're experiencing, but I want to see if I can find out anything further from my end first. Can you also provide the tickers you're using for the crypto holdings if the screenshots don't show them?

-Coach Natalie

mtrow28 · September 19

@Coach Natalie I DM'd you the screenshots.

Coach Natalie · September 19

@mtrow28, thank you!

I tested by adding some of the same crypto holdings, and the cost basis seems to have worked well for me, so I'm not sure what could be happening in your case.

Screenshot 2024-09-19 at 11.28.26 AM.png

Can you open the Edit Holding window and grab a screenshot of each one so we can see what the Total Cost Basis and other details look like, please?

-Coach Natalie

mtrow28 · September 19

@Coach Natalie I will work to get that to you. Did you attempt the crypto holdings with decimal values?

mtrow28 · September 19

@Coach Natalie Since the account being used is a manual account, and all holdings in the account were added manually, I opted to delete all the holdings and then the account itself. Upon creating a new manual account and adding the holdings, the issues seem to be resolved. All holdings are reporting correctly, no errors on any holdings, and total profit is reporting accurately.

Coach Natalie · September 19

https://community.simplifimoney.com/discussion/comment/41122#Comment_41122

Doh — totally forgot the fractional shares part! But yes, I did test this now and didn't see any issues. I was actually wondering if it had something to do with the account itself, and was planning to ask if you'd be willing to delete and re-create it, and then re-add the holdings. So glad to hear that doing this worked for you!

-Coach Natalie

RajOnTrack · September 20

I fixed the cost for all the fidelity account but under the profit it still shows incomplete. Reviewed all the stocks, none are missing any cost information. Not sure what i am doing wrong. I do not see the incomplete for rest of my investment accounts. only under fidelity. Any suggestions?

Coach Natalie · September 20

@RajOnTrack, thanks for posting!

Can you provide some screenshots of what you're seeing so we can get a clearer picture of what's going on? Also, are you noticing the issue with particular Fidelity holdings, or is it with the Fidelity account in general?

-Coach Natalie

DR1234 · September 22

Hello, quick notes on UX

Across the app inability to take out decimal values is frustrating - further evident in investment were we go more than the standard 2 decimals for some values. Pls do away with decimals for USD :)
There is some spacing issue while showing cost basis and profit.
Would appreciate a % next to profit
Also the word profit could be replaced by unrealized/ realized gain/loss or just simple gain/loss

Arkitekt · September 23

Great idea and I see the benefit for some people but I would have to agree with some fellow users. Since I buy multiple times a month it would prove more work and increase chances of errors then it is worth for me. I think it has potential though but it would have to be automatic with a better way to gather information from banks/investment companies to populate the data we want.

Investment Total Cost & Gains: Share your feedback here!

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