[Kmymoney] How to change value of investments

[Allan]

On 08/12/14 19:08, Bill Gee wrote:
>
> Hello everyone - First post here.  I've been trying to get along with KMyMoney
> for some months.  For checking and credit card accounts it is working
> reasonably well.  However, I am totally unable to understand how investment
> accounts work.  My frustration limit has finally been reached, hence I am
> reaching out for some help.
>
> Example:  I have a certificate of deposit with my credit union.  Every three
> months they pay a dividend back into the value of the CD.  This is reported on
> my monthly statements.
>
> How do I add this dividend to the investment account?
>
> I have been trying this method, which does not work.
>
> 1) Open the account ledger.
> 2) Create a new entry.
> 3) set Activity = Dividend
> 4) set Interest = Interest and put the amount paid in the field.
> 5) But there is no way to save this entry!  The Enter button remains gray.
> AERGHHHHHH!
>

You'll need a security, and a checking account.  See below.

> I tried changing the Activity to Reinvestment Dividend.  When I do that, it
> wants to call it one of Bond, Stock or Option.  This is none of the above.
> Double Argh!
>
> Is there a tutorial for dummies on this?
>
> I have another investment account for a 401k.  Every time I save the data file,
> KMyMoney says that there is an issue with the data.  Specifically, it has no
> opening price for the investment.  I cannot figure out how to either enter the
> opening price or delete the investment.
>
> I use KMyMoney version 4.6.6 on 64-bit Fedora 20.  This is the latest RPM from
> the Fedora repositories, and NO, I am not going to compile from source to get
> a later version.
>
> Thanks - Bill Gee

First, a disclaimer.  I have no knowledge of certificates of deposit, 
and I'm in the wrong country to know about 401k.  Hopefully, others will 
chip in to keep us on the right line.

I do have some experience of general investments, though.

Firstly, in general, when dealing with investments, it is necessary to 
create an Investment account and a security/stock/unit trust/mutual 
fund.  You may not have one of these in a certificate of deposit, so you 
may need to 'invent' one.
Select Account/New account on the menu bar, and a wizard opens.  The 
first page
asks about an Institution.  That is not essential, but is a way of 
grouping different investments together.  For the moment, click Next. 
Enter a name for the new account, and for Account type, select 
Investment, then fill in the other details and click next again.  If 
there is a broker involved, or if you wish to link a check account to 
this investment, click Create Brokerage account, then Next, Next, Finish.

Now click on Investment view, then select the new investment account and 
right click in its body, and select New investment.  For Type of 
investment select one of the options (I don't think that's too 
important, but perhaps bond), then Next.  Enter a name in the box.  You 
may not have a trading symbol, so just invent one.  I don't think you'll 
be doing price updates, so Next, Next, etc.

Now that's all done, you can open your ledger and enter your transaction.

You can also set up a schedule to raise the interest payments.

See how that goes.  It may need some tuning as CDs are not specifically 
supported.

Also, in KMyMoney, read the investment section in the handbook, under Help.

Allan