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Investment entry, a better way?

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Michael Lynch

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Sep 30, 1997, 3:00:00 AM9/30/97
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Why does entering an investment insist on trying to
do all of the rounding. My mutual fund statements
round shares to 3 places, price to two, and amount to 2
places. When I try to put the transaction in as it is
given to me, Money insists on changing things so that
a penny ends up in the commission box, which I didn't
spend anything on. My only solution to keep the cost
and shares in line is to fiddle with the price to add
extra decimals to round it.

4.216 shares at 35.58 for $150.00 is how the fund stmt
reads. If I enter 4.216, 35.58 it comes up with 150.01
and I change it to 150.00 it forces me to balance.
Why????? I end up entering it as 4.216 @35.579 for $150.00
so I keep the important parts correct.

Is there a better way? Why wouldn't Microsoft help
us out with this, as I know everyone else must have
similar experiences. Quicken added it last year and
I notice that Money still has the problem this year.

Oh well, here's hoping it gets fixed sometime.

Mike

MichaelJo AT msn.com


Gary Bartlett

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Oct 4, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/4/97
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Michael Lynch wrote in message
<#icqXGjz...@uppssnewspub04.moswest.msn.net>...


>4.216 shares at 35.58 for $150.00 is how the fund stmt
>reads. If I enter 4.216, 35.58 it comes up with 150.01
>and I change it to 150.00 it forces me to balance.
>Why????? I end up entering it as 4.216 @35.579 for $150.00
>so I keep the important parts correct.


Well, if you do the math: 4.216 x 35.58 = 150.00528, so technically the
total would be 150.01 with rounding.

>Is there a better way?

The way I do it is this:

The things which are most important to me are the total amount (that's the
amount that was taken from my account -- physical money only has two decimal
places!), and the quantity of shares (this is what the broker tracks). The
share price is the thing which isn't as important (it's only ever valid for
one instance in time anyway).

So, enter the quantity and total price and let Money compute the share price
for you, and then just live with the difference between your value and the
statement value (it shouldn't be too different). This way, your total
number of shares (after many transactions) will match, and the right amount
of money will be taken from other accounts.

Hope this helps.
Gary
g...@slip.net

Michael Lynch

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Oct 6, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/6/97
to

Thanks Gary. Thats what I do, but I was wondering if there was anything
else possible
here (ie, a new hidden option or something).

Mike


Gary Bartlett wrote in message ...

Robert Karp

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Oct 12, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/12/97
to

"Michael Lynch" <NoM...@MSN.Com> wrote:

> Why does entering an investment insist on trying to
>do all of the rounding. My mutual fund statements
>round shares to 3 places, price to two, and amount to 2
>places.
>

>4.216 shares at 35.58 for $150.00 is how the fund stmt
>reads. If I enter 4.216, 35.58 it comes up with 150.01
>and I change it to 150.00 it forces me to balance.

>Mike
>
>MichaelJo AT msn.com

Money is doing things correctly, if you ask me. When you enter your
transactions, enter only the two real numbers you have. You enter the
total transaction cost and the share price. Money will calculate the
number of shares for you. Your statement already reflects a rounded
number. There is nothing for Microsoft to fix here ... again, Money
is doing things exactly right. The number of share you see on your
statement is rounded and is not the exact number. I don't know about
your mutual fund company, but for mine only the share price and total
are hard numbers.

Joseph Norton

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Oct 12, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/12/97
to

I've always had to do the same thing in Managing Your Money (may it rest in
peace), so it seems to be pretty universal.

--
Joe Norton
Ringwood, NJ
Joe_N...@email.msn.com
Michael Lynch wrote in message ...


>Thanks Gary. Thats what I do, but I was wondering if there was anything
>else possible
>here (ie, a new hidden option or something).
>
>Mike
>
>
>Gary Bartlett wrote in message ...
>>
>>Michael Lynch wrote in message
>><#icqXGjz...@uppssnewspub04.moswest.msn.net>...

>>>4.216 shares at 35.58 for $150.00 is how the fund stmt
>>>reads. If I enter 4.216, 35.58 it comes up with 150.01
>>>and I change it to 150.00 it forces me to balance.

Michael Gordon

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Oct 12, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/12/97
to

Actually, mymdos did it right (you entered the amount and the number of
shares and it computed the price). Mymwin, Quicken, and Money do it the
"wrong" way by computing the amount. In Quicken, however, if you input the
correct amount, the program offers to correct the price. It would be a nice
feature in Money...

Michael
Michael Gordon
MVP- Office
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Joseph Norton wrote in message ...

Michael Gordon

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Oct 12, 1997, 3:00:00 AM10/12/97
to

You're right, but the tab order as you enter the data takes you to "price"
before you get to "transaction amount" and, if you enter all three -- the
number of shares and the price and the correct amount, Money adjusts the
transaction amount -- which is cleary the wrong thing to do. It's necessary
to skip the price entry which isn't obvious to new users.

Michael

Robert Karp wrote in message <34412e4c...@msnews.microsoft.com>...

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