5/28/2024

Tracking Roth and Traditional contributions in One Retirement Account

 I am new at trying to use the "old" way and found it confusing from the Threads available.

Simply, in as few words as possible;

  1. Quicken lets you set up a new account of type 401k (x) tax deferred.
  2. When you setup a paycheck using
  3. [BILLS & INCOME] tab > [Add v] button > "Add Income Reminder"
  4. Looking down at the bottom of the dialog click on "Paycheck setup wizard"

Choose (x) Gross amount > [Next] button

Company name: "myemployer" > [Next] button

Fill out the sections for your paycheck, adding a

[Add Pre-Tax Deductions] > Other Pre-Tax Deduction

  1. Name: Broker - Traditional
  2. Category: replace the word "Salary" with the "[401k Account]" you set up, type but ignore the dialog that pops up > "[401k Account]/Traditional" and press enter, press [OK], ignore the [New Tag] dialog and press [Save]
  3. Amount: enter an amount if you like, press [OK]

[Add After-Tax Deductions] > Other After-Tax Deduction

  1. Name: Broker - Roth
  2. Category: replace the blank field with the "[401k Account]" you set up, type but ignore the dialog that pops up > "[401k Account]/Roth" and press enter, press [OK], ignore the [New Tag] dialog and press [Save]
  3. Amount: enter an amount if you like, press [OK]

When a paycheck is "Action > Entered" from Bills&Income, "tagged" contributions will be placed into the same 401k account; you can tell from their tags their contribution type.

My Retirement Account does not track contributions separately until withdrawl, it lumps them into a ratio between the total of each contribution type which adds up to 100 percent.

On the day of withdrawl the current contribution ratio is used to calculate the available funds of each type from the total of the balance in the account.

A report to find out the current contribution totals can be run from;

Reports > Banking > Transaction

Select [Accounts] tab > [Clear all] button, and check the account "401k account"

Select [Tags] tab > [Clear all] button, and check the tags "Roth" and "Traditional"

Press the [Show Report] button

Select the [Date range: Year to date v] pick the [Custom to Date], press [OK]

a tabulate report will appear with only the tagged transactions for the account chosen.

This is a work around.

The important parts are the "/Roth" and "/Tradition" tag creation and appending to the Paycheck Cash Transfer Transaction type, not all Transaction types support tags.

This workaround does not support the Tax Planning or Forecasting features of Quicken, it allows you to manually track contribution types and reconcile with some retirement plan reports.

I find it better than nothing.

A more Robust solution would be appreciated.