| Trying to track your IRA or 401(k) investments | | | | Roth-IRAs and Roth-401(k)s. Roth IRA and 401(k) |
| in Quicken? Here's a suggestion: Give up. | | | | accounts, as you might know, work differently |
| Here's my logic. It probably doesn't make sense | | | | from regular IRAs and regular 401(k)s. With a |
| to track tax-deferred mutual fund investments in | | | | Roth-style accounts, you don't get a tax |
| Quicken. There's no harm in doing so, but you | | | | deduction for money you put away into the IRA |
| don't get anything extra for your effort. | | | | and when you withdraw money during retirement |
| Why Quicken isn't worth the work | | | | from a Roth-IRA (assuming you meet certain |
| If your mutual fund investing is through | | | | requirements) you don't count the money as |
| tax-deferred accounts such as | | | | income. Accordingly, Roth-IRAs produce neither |
| employer-sponsored 401(k) accounts, Individual | | | | tax deductions nor taxable income. While these |
| Retirement Accounts (IRAs), and self-employed | | | | characteristics mean that Roth-IRAs appear very |
| pension plans like Simplified Employee Pensions | | | | different from a regular IRA, they mean the |
| (SEPs), Keogh plans, and SIMPLE-IRAs, your | | | | same thing for your investment record-keeping: |
| investment profits aren't taxed. Dividends and | | | | You don't need to set up separate investment |
| interest aren't taxed, capital gains aren't taxed, | | | | accounts for Roth-IRA investments made using |
| and capital losses aren't tax-deductible. | | | | mutual funds. You can get all the information you |
| How to simplify your investment recording with a | | | | want from the mutual fund manager. |
| bit of Quicken's help | | | | And one other tip for simplifying your investment |
| Instead, money you withdraw from the account | | | | record-keeping in Quicken |
| is taxed. Restated in terms of Quicken mechanics, | | | | There are other, similar situations in which it |
| when you deposit money that has been | | | | doesn't make sense to track a mutual fund |
| withdrawn from, say, your IRA account into a | | | | investment with Quicken because you don't get |
| bank account, you just categorize the bank | | | | any new information or added value from your |
| account deposit as income. (The income category | | | | record-keeping effort. |
| could be named something like IRA Distribution.) | | | | Suppose you have retirement money in a mutual |
| Because you don't need to keep records for the | | | | fund, you don't buy and sell shares, and you don't |
| purpose of tracking your mutual fund profits, | | | | reinvest your mutual fund profits (because you |
| there's little reason to go to the extra work of | | | | live on these profits). In this case, it doesn't make |
| keeping mutual fund investment records in | | | | sense to track your mutual fund investments in |
| Quicken. You can easily obtain information about | | | | Quicken. |
| these accounts in several ways: | | | | You can keep a record of the mutual fund profits |
| 1. If you want to know the current value of your | | | | by using appropriate income categories when you |
| mutual fund investment, you can just look at | | | | deposit the dividend, interest, or capital gains |
| your last statement from the mutual fund | | | | distributions check into your bank account. And |
| investment management company or give that | | | | you can get investment activity and current |
| company a telephone call. The big mutual fund | | | | market value information by looking at a recent |
| management companies have toll-free numbers | | | | statement or by telephoning the mutual fund |
| that give fund price and account value information. | | | | investment company. |
| You can also look up the fund on the Web. | | | | That much said, if you feel compelled to set up |
| 2. If you want to see what taxable income you | | | | an account for an IRA, Roth-IRA or 401(k) |
| have because of the mutual fund, you can look at | | | | mutual account, you can do so. The extra work |
| your bank accounts and summarize the deposits | | | | you go through to set up and then keep records |
| you've made into these accounts. | | | | of your retirement account will deliver some |
| 3. You can get the annual return on the | | | | modest benefits. By doing so, for example, you |
| investment by looking at the annual report the | | | | can have all your investment information in |
| mutual fund management company sends you at | | | | Quicken, thereby making managing this money |
| the end of the year. | | | | easier. You can also prepare more accurate |
| A word about Roth-style accounts | | | | estimates of your net. |
| By the way, let me make a comment about | | | | |