Excellent reply, Mark - thank you!

I think I didn't notice the behavior you describe because my Contribution
Date (to the 401k from my Paycheck) is the same Date that my 401k downloaded
transactions - perhaps if the Cash was there prior it would attempt to
reconcile it.

I added a Wages line to my Paycheck deposit to indicate Employer Matching
(and a corresponding After Taxes Deduction that will show up in the Cash
portion of my 401 along with my own Contribution) -- prior to my next
paycheck cycle I'll make sure to enter the paycheck prior to d/l-ing my 401k
info electronically.

Thanks again, Mark!




"Mark Horn" wrote:

- quote -

On 2007-02-09, Ken <Ken[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
- quote -

I don't do this for my 401k, since it's not at a provider who allows
me to d/l transactions into Money. But for my Roth IRA accounts, and
contributions to my kids' 529 accounts, I do it this way:

I have a scheduled transfer from my checking to the investment
account. The transfer goes into the cash portion of the investment
account. Then when I download the transactions from the brokerage,
they show up as purchase of the investment. I get a quantity
purchased and total price. These end up being purchases made out
of the funds in the cash account.

So for example, on the first of the month, I have a scheduled
bill which is a transfer from checking to my IRA for $100.
Total account value = $100 ($100 cash + $0 holdings).

A few days later, I download a transaction from the brokerage that
says I bought 10 shares of stock X for $10 each (for example).
Money makes a $100 deduction from the cash account to pay for
that purchase.
Total account value = $100 ($0 cash + holding 10 shares of X [at] $10)

I'm fairly certain that if my 401k offered downloads, that it would
work exactly the same way. Are you doing something differently
that prevents this from working for you?

I currently have tied my 401k account into MS Money electronically and it is
downloading everything fine, etc.

I'm wondering; however, what the best method is to track my 401K deduction
in terms of my Budget -- I currently have my Gross Paycheck Itemized but if I
deduct my 401K Contribution to my 401k account it adds a duplicate value
(since I'm d/l-ing transactions automatically already).

Should I just setup a 'phantom' account for Budget purposes (that captures
my deduction each time yet doesn't inflate my 401k erroneously)?

Thanks.