Getting Rid of Mis-named Investment from Online Statement

A sticky one here, folks: How do I get rid of a mis-named investment that
appears in one of my online statements?

I have several investment accounts that contain Microsoft Corporation stock.
I have an Investment in MS Money named "Microsoft Corp" with the stock
symbol MSFT. When I connect online, these accounts are updated with the
current price of Microsoft stock. That works fine.

However whenever I receive online updates for one of these accounts and go
to update it, Money indicates there is a line in the statement for "Microsoft
Stock". The number of shares matches the number of shares of "Microsoft
Corp" that are already in the account.
* If I respond "No I'll make adjustments myself", I get the same
notifcation of the need to add these shares every time I run online updates.
And I have to manually select the No option each time (very annoying, and I'm
worried I'll forget some time and will accidentally leave it at the default
"Make the adjustments" with the results in the next bullet).
* If I approve the automatic adjustment Money wants to make, then I wind
up with X shares of "Microsoft Corp" AND X shares of "Microsoft Stock" --
double the correct number of shares in the account (confirmed in paper
statements and when viewing the account balances at the brokerages web site).
Oddly, it does not adjust the "Microsoft Corp" total even though it should
not appear in the list of investments on the statement.

I have tried to "Rename" both of the accounts, but I always get the message
that there is another account using the same name (or stock symbol) and so it
can't be renamed. I tried to Merge the investments, but they do not appear
on the "Merge your duplicate accounts" list.

I don't want to just leave it the way it is, because there is no stock
symbol associated with the "Microsoft Stock" investment. That means the
value does not automatically update when all other prices do. I have to wait
until the next time I update statements to get a current price, and so I
don't have an accurate view of the value of my portfolio in the interim.

How can I fix this problem?

Thanks in advance!

Bill

Cal
Sat Feb 18 01:19:49 CST 2006

In microsoft.public.money, Bill wrote:

>
>How can I fix this problem?

Assuming this is Fidelity, this item is known. Perhaps you can
encourage Fidelity to fix it. In the mean time, you best workaround
is to let Money think this is a different security, and enter the
quotes by hand.

Chris
Sat Feb 18 10:47:12 CST 2006

"Cal Learner-- MVP" <via_newsgroup@please.tnx> wrote in message
news:oiidv1dq88g3r8jgo6933bj26le8dt3ok5@4ax.com...
>
> Assuming this is Fidelity, this item is known.

Can you elaborate on the Fidelity issue?

I have an irritation when downloading from Fidelity NetBenefits, because the
download doesn't include the symbol. My workaround is to revise the
investment name to match exactly that as downloaded WITHOUT the symbol.

When I review the downloaded transactions from the account WITH the symbol,
it matches on the symbol but asks confirmation that it's the same stock.
That's because the description differs. I answer yes, but that does not
revise the description in Money.

When I review the downloaded transactions from the account WITHOUT the
symbol, it matches on description. That's why I revised the description in
Money to match exactly the description downloaded without the symbol. From
there, the process is the same.

The aggravation is that it's necessary but, if you answer yes to the
matching confirmation question, everything works okay.

Is this the same problem?

Cal
Sat Feb 18 11:09:17 CST 2006

In microsoft.public.money, Chris Cowles wrote:

>"Cal Learner-- MVP" <via_newsgroup@please.tnx> wrote in message
>news:oiidv1dq88g3r8jgo6933bj26le8dt3ok5@4ax.com...
>>
>> Assuming this is Fidelity, this item is known.
>
>Can you elaborate on the Fidelity issue?
>
>I have an irritation when downloading from Fidelity NetBenefits, because the
>download doesn't include the symbol. My workaround is to revise the
>investment name to match exactly that as downloaded WITHOUT the symbol.
>
>When I review the downloaded transactions from the account WITH the symbol,
>it matches on the symbol but asks confirmation that it's the same stock.
>That's because the description differs. I answer yes, but that does not
>revise the description in Money.
>
>When I review the downloaded transactions from the account WITHOUT the
>symbol, it matches on description. That's why I revised the description in
>Money to match exactly the description downloaded without the symbol. From
>there, the process is the same.
>
>The aggravation is that it's necessary but, if you answer yes to the
>matching confirmation question, everything works okay.

I think that if you just let the names differ and once say they are
not the same, then you will not have the question each time. On the
other hand, if Fidelity NetBenefits gets things straightened up,
then your method might have been most worthwhile, because Money
would still have been remembering that you say they are the same
investment.

>
>Is this the same problem?
>

Yes. I don't have it myself, but I have talked to people who have
the problem. The problem stems from them using a fake CUSIP
(identifying number) in that retirement account download.
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=561546798
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUSIP

Chris
Sat Feb 18 11:24:08 CST 2006

"Cal Learner-- MVP" <via_newsgroup@please.tnx> wrote in message
news:j6kev15ndt5j2kchel5cfm0n3p4o843n58@4ax.com...
>
> I think that if you just let the names differ and once say they are
> not the same, then you will not have the question each time.

But aren't they the same? Should I not want to track performance of that
stock in aggregate?

Cal
Sat Feb 18 11:40:25 CST 2006

In microsoft.public.money, Chris Cowles wrote:

>"Cal Learner-- MVP" <via_newsgroup@please.tnx> wrote in message
>news:j6kev15ndt5j2kchel5cfm0n3p4o843n58@4ax.com...
>>
>> I think that if you just let the names differ and once say they are
>> not the same, then you will not have the question each time.
>
>But aren't they the same? Should I not want to track performance of that
>stock in aggregate?
>

They are the same. Yes, you should want to track performance of that
stock in aggregate? I was suggesting that Bill could work around
doing the extra work you do when you download from Fidelity
NetBenefits. If Bill can handle the work, then what he is doing is a
productive workaround.

We can encourage Fidelity NetBenefits to produce good data. We can
encourage Microsoft to deal with bad data. At this point the
Fidelity NetBenefits customers can work around this as best they
can. Neither workaround is ideal.

Does this Fidelity NetBenefits thing affect you directly?

Chris
Sat Feb 18 11:47:30 CST 2006

"Cal Learner-- MVP" <via_newsgroup@please.tnx> wrote in message
news:17mev1tsm25332dknqqmkjl009vac7noik@4ax.com...
>
> Does this Fidelity NetBenefits thing affect you directly?

Yes

Bill
Sun Feb 19 23:55:10 CST 2006

Thanks for the suggestions and additional discussion. You're correct, it
does relate specifically to Fidelity NetBenefits. It's a real annoyance to
have to deal with it as an unknown stock that I have to manually update, but
if that's the best solution I'll have to live with it.

So, I take it that I should accept Money's offer to add X shares of
Microsoft Stock. But what's the right way to get rid of the duplicated
Microsoft Corp shares -- should I just do a Remove Shares on them?

I am also curious about the other side of this problem: When Money updates
the account and finds an item (the shares of Microsoft Corp) in the account
that is NOT on the statement, then why does it allow it to remain? Allowing
those share to remain means the account and statement do NOT agree! That
would seem to be a reportable bug.

Thanks again!

Bill

"Chris Cowles" wrote:

> "Cal Learner-- MVP" <via_newsgroup@please.tnx> wrote in message
> news:17mev1tsm25332dknqqmkjl009vac7noik@4ax.com...
> >
> > Does this Fidelity NetBenefits thing affect you directly?
>
> Yes
>
>
>

Cal
Mon Feb 20 08:21:36 CST 2006

In microsoft.public.money, Bill wrote:

>Thanks for the suggestions and additional discussion. You're correct, it
>does relate specifically to Fidelity NetBenefits. It's a real annoyance to
>have to deal with it as an unknown stock that I have to manually update, but
>if that's the best solution I'll have to live with it.
>
>So, I take it that I should accept Money's offer to add X shares of
>Microsoft Stock. But what's the right way to get rid of the duplicated
>Microsoft Corp shares -- should I just do a Remove Shares on them?

I think the way it will end up is that you will create a security
called perhaps "Microsoft NetBenefits Clone". You will change all
Buys and Sells in that 401(k) account, including the old
transactions to that one. As often as you want, perhaps monthly,
update the price manually for the clone.

On the other hand, if your current method is livable ( say it is the
same security each time you download), there can be some advantages
to that. So I don't think there is a solitary "right" way that you
can implement at your end.

>
>I am also curious about the other side of this problem: When Money updates
>the account and finds an item (the shares of Microsoft Corp) in the account
>that is NOT on the statement, then why does it allow it to remain? Allowing
>those share to remain means the account and statement do NOT agree! That
>would seem to be a reportable bug.

Money will compare the amount of some security the statement says
you have to what it thinks you have for that security in that
account. It does not get concerned about some security it thinks you
have in the account, but that was not included in the statement
download.