Stocks & Options

[s***@public.gmane.org]

Hi, I've been a Moneydance user for quite some time now and have been tracking
a few stocks across different accounts. The problems I have are two-fold:


1) How do I get stocks to "go away"? At some point after I sell some, I
no longer care about them and don't really want the hassle of downloading
the history each time.

2) How have others handled options? I have some
that have completely expired worthless and yet don't know how to model them
within MD. I can't set them to $0 and this problem is compounded by issue
#1 - if I purchase a bunch of options every few months, I have a ton of stocks
after a while that I no longer care about. I thought about changing them to
an xfr but that seems really ugly.

I did check the user forums and didn't
find anything addressing these issues. If I overlooked something, please feel
free to send me to a URL.

I dig MD though. Don't miss Quicken/Money at
all except for two areas that I find MD is lacking - time-series reporting
and a consolidated summarized gain/loss portfolio performance view and direct
linking to Yahoo/Google research.

Anyway, thanks for any help/ideas anyone
can offer up.

[Anthony]

To get rid of this problem, go to the stock history and hit the edit
button at the top right. That will open a window and amongst other
things you will see a field for Ticker Symbol.

Clear the entry in there and when you update, that stock will be
passed over.

As for the other issues: sorry I do not know

Anthony

Post by s***@public.gmane.org
1) How do I get stocks to "go away"? At some point after I sell some, I
no longer care about them and don't really want the hassle of
downloading
the history each time.

[Scott Zahn]

I know a particular stock's data has to stay in moneydance as long as
there are transactions in an account which involve it, which is fine, but
isn't there some way to mark it as "deactivated" after all shares are sold
where it isn't listed on the home page and/or where the price isn't
updated?

-Scott

Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 17:10:11 +0800
Reply-To: General discussion related to Moneydance
Subject: Re: [moneydance] Stocks & Options
To get rid of this problem, go to the stock history and hit the edit
button at the top right. That will open a window and amongst other
things you will see a field for Ticker Symbol.
Clear the entry in there and when you update, that stock will be
passed over.
As for the other issues: sorry I do not know
Anthony

Post by s***@public.gmane.org
1) How do I get stocks to "go away"? At some point after I sell some, I
no longer care about them and don't really want the hassle of
downloading
the history each time.

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http://moneydance.com/mailman/listinfo/moneydance-info

[Gordon Alley]

As a previous responder mentioned, you can use Edit Security to blank out
the security's stock symbol to keep MD from downloading prices for it. An
there is a checkbox there that, when unchecked, will suppress entries for
the security for showing up in the home screen lists.

Post by Scott Zahn
I know a particular stock's data has to stay in moneydance as long as
there are transactions in an account which involve it, which is fine, but
isn't there some way to mark it as "deactivated" after all shares are sold
where it isn't listed on the home page and/or where the price isn't
updated?
-Scott

Date: Wed, 3 May 2006 17:10:11 +0800
Reply-To: General discussion related to Moneydance
To: General discussion related to Moneydance <
Subject: Re: [moneydance] Stocks & Options
To get rid of this problem, go to the stock history and hit the edit
button at the top right. That will open a window and amongst other
things you will see a field for Ticker Symbol.
Clear the entry in there and when you update, that stock will be
passed over.
As for the other issues: sorry I do not know
Anthony

Post by s***@public.gmane.org
1) How do I get stocks to "go away"? At some point after I sell some, I
no longer care about them and don't really want the hassle of downloading
the history each time.

--
Gordon B. Alley
http://galley.home.texas.net

[Martin & Carol]

Post by Gordon Alley
As a previous responder mentioned, you can use Edit Security to blank out
the security's stock symbol to keep MD from downloading prices for it. An
there is a checkbox there that, when unchecked, will suppress entries for
the security for showing up in the home screen lists.

The check box is not checked but the security still shows up.

MartyA

[Edward Reid]

I've just finally dived into converting from Quicken 2005 / Mac to MD.

In Quicken, I kept my accounts receivable for my small business in a
Quicken Asset account. Very small business: sole prop, have never had any
employees, average one deposit per month for the past 20 years. Even so, it
was a stretch in Quicken, which had no concept of the invoice date being
different from the payment date, or of multiple partial payments, or of
single payments for multiple invoices. But it simply wasn't worth moving up
to a "business" package just to avoid a bit of kludginess in this one area.

Does anyone here handle receivables within MD? If so, how? Is there
something better than the kludge I've been using in Q?

Edward
Art works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org

[Nicholas Lee]

Post by Edward Reid
Does anyone here handle receivables within MD? If so, how? Is there
something better than the kludge I've been using in Q?

Use a proper accounting package even for such a basic business level.
Something like SQL-Ledger, Quaser (from Linux Canada) or Turbo Cash.

Using a personal accounting package which are basically just cash ledgers
for business accounting is silly IMO. No easy way to provide good audited
aged report to a tax authority if they ask.




--
Nicholas Lee
http://stateless.geek.nz
gpg 8072 4F86 EDCD 4FC1 18EF 5BDD 07B0 9597 6D58 D70C

[Hans Derycke]

On the Mac, I use FirstEdge, from MYOB. Not perfect, but cheap.

Post by Nicholas Lee

Post by Edward Reid
Does anyone here handle receivables within MD? If so, how? Is there
something better than the kludge I've been using in Q?

Use a proper accounting package even for such a basic business
level.
Something like SQL-Ledger, Quaser (from Linux Canada) or Turbo Cash.
Using a personal accounting package which are basically just cash ledgers
for business accounting is silly IMO. No easy way to provide good audited
aged report to a tax authority if they ask.
--
Nicholas Lee
http://stateless.geek.nz
gpg 8072 4F86 EDCD 4FC1 18EF 5BDD 07B0 9597 6D58 D70C
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[Keith Bates]

On Fri, 5 May 2006 17:35:32 +0100

Post by Nicholas Lee

Post by Edward Reid
Does anyone here handle receivables within MD? If so, how? Is there
something better than the kludge I've been using in Q?

Use a proper accounting package even for such a basic business
level. Something like SQL-Ledger, Quaser (from Linux Canada) or Turbo
Cash.
Using a personal accounting package which are basically just cash
ledgers for business accounting is silly IMO. No easy way to provide
good audited aged report to a tax authority if they ask.

For accounts payable I use liability accounts. You could use asset
accounts for receivables, but it could get messy if you've got hundreds
of customers.
--
God bless you,


Keith Bates
4 Mooloobar St
Narrabri NSW 2390

Phone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]

www.new-life.org.au

If you don't have a reason to live

JESUS IS THE ANSWER!

Ask him into your life today...
He really does make a difference.

[David Carlson]

Post by Edward Reid
I've just finally dived into converting from Quicken 2005 / Mac to MD.
In Quicken, I kept my accounts receivable for my small business in a
Quicken Asset account. Very small business: sole prop, have never had any
employees, average one deposit per month for the past 20 years. Even so, it
was a stretch in Quicken, which had no concept of the invoice date being
different from the payment date, or of multiple partial payments, or of
single payments for multiple invoices. But it simply wasn't worth moving up
to a "business" package just to avoid a bit of kludginess in this one area.
Does anyone here handle receivables within MD? If so, how? Is there
something better than the kludge I've been using in Q?
Edward
Art works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org
_______________________________________________
moneydance-info mailing list
http://moneydance.com/mailman/listinfo/moneydance-info

To properly do this, you need a business-oriented package, which MD or
even Quicken Deluxe for Home and Business is not. I am ignorant about
Quickbooks, but a lot of small businesses do use it. Google business
accounting software. I know there are a few inexpensive or open source
packages around.

Just because I sometimes want to document float, especially around year
end when I sometimes deposit last year's income in the following year, I
have accounts named AcctsRec and AcctsPay to track those odd ones. That
would be too cumbersome for a business, though.

Dave

[Edward Reid]

I appreciate the suggestions. I don't question that a proper accounting
package is the correct answer, but it just isn't going to happen here. Not
worth the effort. I'm not concerned about auditability. (And yes, a CPA
helped me set up my books, though that was on paper 20+ years ago. He still
does my taxes, knows I keep my books in a personal finance program, and
wouldn't hesitate to tell me if I were leaving myself open for such
problems.) I would never get enough benefit to pay back the cost of
learning to use it. (The out of pocket cash cost is a minor issue.)

What I have come up with -- and I probably could have done it in Q too if
I'd thought of it -- is this. Make a root-level account "Accounts
Receivable". Within it, make a second level account for each client. (This
isn't necessary, and in fact at the rate I'm going I may never have but one
account at this level.) Within each client account, make an asset account
for each invoice.

Huh, you say? An account for every invoice? Yep.

I enter the invoiced amounts as increases -- usually two entries, one for
services and one for expenses. Then I set the account to hide when zero.
When I receive payment -- partial or full -- I enter it as a transfer from
that invoice account (within Accounts Receivable) to my checking account.
Many invoice accounts will never have but three transactions, and as many
as half a dozen will be unusual.

Advantages: invoice date and payment date(s) are tracked independently. The
balance on each invoice is tracked. All open invoices (and only open
invoices) show in the assets list on the home page (and because the root
account's name starts with "A", they are at the start of that list, which
can then flow off the page with little loss). That list shows both the
total outstanding, the amount outstanding from each client, and the amount
outstanding on each invoice. One click from the home page shows invoice
details.

Disadvantages: I'm not sure yet how difficult it will be to report the
information I need for taxes, but in large part that's because I haven't
explored MD reporting at all yet. I'm recording the income category on the
invoice amounts (since the payment is a transfer from AR to checking), but
I do my taxes on a cash rather than accrual basis, so it's the payment date
that's important to me. I will eventually have a LOT of accounts in this
hierarchy -- though AFAIK MD won't have any trouble with this, and once the
invoices are closed, they don't show on the home page. And, I agree, it IS
a kludge within a program not intended for this purpose, not a proper
accounting solution. It certainly is way too much work for a business which
creates even one or two invoices per day -- but so far it seems very
reasonable for creating one or two invoices per month.

I'm interested in hearing whether anyone sees major problems with this
approach. (But not in being told it isn't proper accounting. I accept that.)

Edward
Art works by Melynda Reid: http://paleo.org