Unable to download existing investment data

[FundManxy]

I just updated to the latest personal version of FundManager - great program! Because of problems with direct account updates from Vanguard (and now Merrill), I've resorted to using the import function for updating transactions.

With the updated version of FundManager (which has the same holdings as the previously used version) I am now consistently getting the message "The maximum number of investments are currently open" and must abort the import, so no stock holdings can be updated.

Am not sure why this wasn't a problem with the older personal version, vs the new one. I wonder if it's because I have to now use an import function (QFX) rather than a direct-to-firm download? I am NOT a professional investor -- this strictly covers personal and retirement holdings.

I do have a fair number of holdings (my wife and myself) in our combined FundManager portfolio. But this hasn't been an issue with the previous software version. Can you assist?

Thanks for your support for for this program.

[Mark]

Hi FundManxy,

The Personal version is limited to 500 investments. You can look and see how many you have now by looking at the properties of your top level sub-portfolio. See the "Statistics" section, and it will show how many investments it contains.

If you've reached the 500 limit, you can either close some investments, or upgrade to the Professional version, which has a limit of 5,000. Keep in mind, closing investments removes them completely, so they won't be factored into your historical performance figures if closed.

[FundManxy]

Mark,
You are busy answering so many posted questions!

I am "close" but the entire Master Portfolio holds 497 investments on that statistics page. So still within the 500 investment limit. Does the new program default to a lower number?

Any other thoughts -- as the issue arises in having to resort to the manual downloads from sites that Fund Manager cannot access automatically?

Thanks.

[Mark]

Hi FundManxy,

The 500 investment limit on the Personal version has not changed, it has always been 500. It may be that you just happen to be hitting it now.

Whether you retrieve or import makes no difference on the creation of new investments. Are you sure you're importing okay? In the "Preview Importing Transaction" dialog there is a column at the far right for "New investment" that shows whether or not that transaction will create a new investment. If the transaction matches with an already existing investment, this column should be blank, such that the transaction is going into an existing investment. If the account number or CUSIP is new in the incoming transaction, then it will create a new investment. If you look at that column when you do the import, is it creating new investments only for the ones you would expect, like things you bought for the first time, or is it somehow maybe creating new investments for all the incoming transactions?

[FundManxy]

Mark,
Yes - that was the problem. Every "old" investment was considered a "new" investment".

So the question is how to prevent this from occurring? I'm thinking perhaps on the previous screen "Import Open Financial Exchange Transactions" I would need to uncheck the bottom box "Create new investments as needed"?

Or, given that there might be a future investment purchase, perhaps within the advanced options screen "New Investment Options" I should uncheck "create investments automatically (without prompting)" -- such that I'd have the option of refusing having a new investment created for a pre-existing one, but could still approve adding a truly new investment were this the case?

Appreciate the help! Thanks for taking the time.

[Mark]

Hi FundManxy,

You probably want to leave on the option to create new investments. The issue is that the incoming account number and CUSIP aren't matching what you have in your existing investments. This is how matches are made. So, if you do the 1st step of the import and get to the "Preview Importing Transaction" screen, right mouse click on a transaction that is going to create a new investment, and look at "Transaction Details...". You will see the investment CUSIP and symbol and also the sub-portfolio account number. Do you have a sub-portfolio with this account number? In that sub-portfolio do you have an investment with this CUSIP? If not, FM will try to create a new investment. You can go back and edit the properties of the investments and sub-portfolios to make sure your account number and CUSIP are the same as coming in from your new transaction file. Hopefully doing this will shed some light on why all the importing transactions are creating new investments instead of updating the existing ones.

Another thing to check is that you have on the import options:

Import into FM Portfolio: With Matching Account Number
Skip transactions already in FM