Quicken Ability to Deal with Options and Bonds

Posted by W on July 5, 2009, 2:14 am

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I've been using Microsoft Money to track stock, bond, and option
investments. I had compared Money and Quicken on the ability to download
data from a broker and track investments, and at least back in 2007 Money
was easily two or three times better than Quicken for non standard
investments. Money handled stock options - both long and short -
correctly, and also did a much better job with bonds. Money's error
handling and ability to make sense of complex hedges was really impressive,
and Quicken's abilities were just buggy. Everything with Quicken had to be
patched by hand. Quicken did a fine job with stocks, but I have plenty of
non standard investment types like options, so I cannot afford a tool that
doesn't deal with these correctly.

Well, fast forward three years and it looks like Money is out of business
(amazing!!). Has Quicken's ability to handle stock options and bonds
improved any?

If Quicken is not the right tool for most advanced instruments like options,
is there another tool out there I should be considering? I'm starting to
deal with partnerships now too, so it would be a plus if the tool could
handle the more complex tax issues that these involve.

My main application is to download data from brokerages automatically, and
then to run Schedule D reports end of year to determine capital gains. It
would certainly be nice if the tool showed return on investment of anything
in your portfolio that has not been sold yet too.

--
W

Posted by Eric J. Holtman on July 5, 2009, 2:24 pm

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> If Quicken is not the right tool for most advanced instruments like

> options, is there another tool out there I should be considering?

> I'm starting to deal with partnerships now too, so it would be a plus

> if the tool could handle the more complex tax issues that these

> involve.

Hah.... once I stared getting K-1s, I just
hired a tax lawyer. Best $500 I spend every year.

> My main application is to download data from brokerages automatically,

> and then to run Schedule D reports end of year to determine capital

> gains. It would certainly be nice if the tool showed return on

> investment of anything in your portfolio that has not been sold yet

> too.

Quicken has always been horrendous for options,
and even for short selling stocks. It just doesn't
deal well with the whole "sold before you bought"
concept.

And anyway, for options, there's not really a good
"mark" to use until you close. The "last sale" could
be days or weeks stale. I generally mark to the
closing side of the quote (if I'm long, I mark to
the bid, if I'm short I mark to the offer).

But I'm using homegrown software and a somewhat
expensive datasource to do that.

Posted by W on July 6, 2009, 3:20 pm

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> >

> > If Quicken is not the right tool for most advanced instruments like

> > options, is there another tool out there I should be considering?

> > I'm starting to deal with partnerships now too, so it would be a plus

> > if the tool could handle the more complex tax issues that these

> > involve.

> Hah.... once I stared getting K-1s, I just

> hired a tax lawyer. Best $500 I spend every year.

Just out of curiosity, does the tax lawyer help you find legal loopholes, or
does he find even more ways to pay tax than your accountant does?

> > My main application is to download data from brokerages automatically,

> > and then to run Schedule D reports end of year to determine capital

> > gains. It would certainly be nice if the tool showed return on

> > investment of anything in your portfolio that has not been sold yet

> > too.

> >

> Quicken has always been horrendous for options,

> and even for short selling stocks. It just doesn't

> deal well with the whole "sold before you bought"

> concept.

> And anyway, for options, there's not really a good

> "mark" to use until you close. The "last sale" could

> be days or weeks stale. I generally mark to the

> closing side of the quote (if I'm long, I mark to

> the bid, if I'm short I mark to the offer).

> But I'm using homegrown software and a somewhat

> expensive datasource to do that.

I'm going to try to milk a few years out of Money. I just can't believe
they discontinued it!

--
W

Posted by Eric J. Holtman on July 6, 2009, 8:25 pm

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>> Hah.... once I stared getting K-1s, I just

>> hired a tax lawyer. Best $500 I spend every year.

> Just out of curiosity, does the tax lawyer help you find legal

> loopholes, or does he find even more ways to pay tax than your

> accountant does?

Oh, I use him because he came highly recommended,
as someone who knew the ins and outs of K-1s, and
other various and sundry things.

I'm sure a good accountant would be just as good
for taxes, but they wouldn't have been able to do
my estate planning, my medical directives, or help
me close on numerous real estate deals.

He's what I would call "aggressive" in pursuing
deductions, but in no way illegal. I'm pretty sure
he saves me at least the amount of his fee, every
year, just because I'm a spaz and always forget
something.

This past year, I cannot imagine doing my own taxes,
since I'm now self-employed and filing a schedule C,
along with some other forms (depreciation, etc) that
I never even knew existed.