access household or client 401k accounts

[NFichter]

Can FM be used effectively to access 401k and ideally other non-brokerage/mutual fund accounts for someone else? For example, a spouse accessing the other spouse's 401k accounts and tracking these in the overal household's assets within FM. By extension of this idea, it would be very useful for advisors to be able to access client 401k accounts and track these in FM along with the usual TD Ameritrade or whatever brokerage accounts. Is anyone doing this? If not does it seem feasible? I realize you need the right format data to be supplied (e.g., OFX I think and maybe some others) - is this format commonly available for 401k accounts? I have just read that Quicken Premier has the ability (in many cases) to access client 401k accounts along the lines I've just described and some advisors actually use it for that purpose - does that kind of imply that FM probably can do this, too? Is there a show-stopper issue of needing answers to security questions - mother's maiden name, etc.? - that would probably be OK for spouse access, but not for an advisor accessing client's 401k.

[Mark]

Hi NFichter,

FM can track as many accounts as you want. Data can be brought into FM in a variety of ways. You can retrieve, import, or manually enter data. You can also use a combination of any of these methods. It is common for individuals to use the "retrieve" feature, where FM automatically connects into your broker or mutual fund company's OFX server and downloads your transactions/positions. This is a standard interface, and only requires the username and password. There are no additional security questions when using this method. This is not the same server as the company's "web" server. It is their OFX server, and designed specifically to allow programs like Fund Manager to access your transaction/position data. You cannot initiate any transactions through an OFX server, it is only for downloading of information.

Some small advisors may also choose to use this method (OFX retrieve), although it is generally not the best, as it requires the advisor to know their client's username and password. Most advisors use the "institutional" interfaces, where they can download, or are sent daily a set of transaction/price/security/position files, which Fund Manager Advisor can import. With this method, the advisor does not need to know each client's username/password. With a single import, all client accounts are updated.

[NFichter]

Hi Mark,
I completely understand about the institutional access to brokerage acct info. However, such access does not exist at all (at least, I have never seen it) with 401k accounts and some other non-brokerage/mutual fund accounts that nevertheless the advisor would love to be able to draw into FM (that advisor would of course use the institutional method for brokerage, etc.). So my question specifically is whether FM would likley be able to access client 401k info the same (or in a similar way) as Quicken Premier apparently does. Yes, the advisor would have to have the client's id and password for each such account. What I was really hoping was that you would already have enountered this -that some advisor using FM would already have gone down this road and proved that it works (or even proved that it doesn't woudl still be valuable to know). I brought up the "household" question because it seems to me that what I am asking is essentially equivalent to a husband, say, keeping track of his wife's 401k in FM - he has to use her id and password to login via FM - presumably this is already being done???
- Nick

[Mark]

Hi Nick,

Yes, you can retrieve a 401K just the same as any account. It just needs to be available on the custodian's OFX server. It depends who is holding the 401K, and if they offer an OFX server. Many 401Ks are available for retrieving, just like regular non-qualified accounts. It just has to be held by one of the companies listed here:

http://www.fundmanagersoftware.com/tintrtv.html

If you're not sure, I'd suggest asking the 401K custodian if they make available transactions for retrieving into portfolio management software like Quicken, MS Money, and Fund Manager. If they do, ask for instructions. Some of them make you choose to enable that feature, and give you a different username/password. Some enable it by default, it just depends on the company managing the 401K.

[NFichter]

thanks Mark - I am going to post a follow on question directed to your community of advsors using FM. - Nick

[Mark]

Hi Nick,

Okay, I won't reply to that other thread... But, the standard security questions you get when using a web login (maiden name, etc) do not apply to an OFX server. Many people (I do it personally as well) retrieve data for their 401Ks using the transaction retrieve (OFX) feature.

[NFichter]

Thanks for all your help on this, Mark. From your lucid explanations it seems clear that the client 401k info I would like to be able to get/track using FM should work at least in some cases. E.g., a custodian who provides a direct login interface for OFX (or whatever the letters are) download. From the list you provided it looks like some of my client 401ks should work. But having struggled in this realm in other ways (e.g, via CashEdge), I know that various surprises can come up. For example, I have a number of client 402b accounts at TIAA-CREF and as far as I can figure out, TIAA wants the user to get their OFX download by first logging in to their regular web site and then going to a particular link to initiate the download. Their regular web site login definitely at least sometimes requires security question answers. Another issue I have seen is where the custodian keeps an IP address list and if you login from one they don't expect, they hit you with a security question - don't know whether they'd invoke this in the direct OFX login case but it would not surprise me at all if they did. So, I'd like really like to hear from your advisor users whether they have been successful with FM doing what I am talking about. - Nick

[Mark]

Hi Nick,

Hopefully an advisor will reply to your other thread.

The OFX interface does not provide a mechanism for any additional security prompts. Only a username and password are utilized. The OFX interface is a publicly documented and standardized interface, so any program that can communicate according to that spec can use it. It is documented at www.ofx.net. There are no additional security prompts in that spec, other than the required username and password.

When a broker does not have an OFX "server", they can still make an OFX file available for download via the web server. This is just as good, but requires you to download the file, and then import it with the "File / Import / Transactions / Open Financial Exchange (*.OFX, *.QFX)..." command in Fund Manager.

[NFichter]

Mark thanks for the clarification: that by spec the OFX interface cannot ask a security question, though I suppose a custodian that for whatever reason gets suspicious about a connetion (e.g., the IP address issue I mentioned) could just terminate it. Maybe my question will end up being equivalent to "which 401k (and similar) custodians provid a direct OFX download feature" and if a satisfactory percentage have this, using FM to track client 401k etc accounts would be a practical benefit. In my case I think I would almost certainly be stuck with at least TIAA as a custodian that makes the user log in to their regular web site (with the potential for security question and/or other hard-to-handle security elements - e.g captcha, security card, etc) in order to go to a link to download the OFX file. I hope to hear from a few of your advisor users. I am also doing a little more research on Quicken Premier - if it can as some have claimed handle not only login with client credentials but also supplying answers to security questions maybe I could use FM for the "easy" situation and QP for the others and then import the quicken info into FM. The one thing I really do not want to do is manually enter a lot of 401k data. 0 - Nick

[NFichter]

Mark, this may not matter (yet) but I've discovered from poking around the web that recent versions of the OFX spec do in fact include multi factor authentication (MFA) such as security questions, but apparently almost no one has upgraded their OFX facilities to actually implement this. I looked at the actual spec and it's true - you can see it at www.ofx.net. - Nick