Portfolio Setup (Win)

To create a portfolio account on Windows, begin by choosing Investing > Investing Accounts > Add Account. The Quicken Account Setup window appears, asking you to specify the financial institution for the account.

Type in the name of the financial institution. Quicken will try to find the institution in its internal financial institutions list and will enter matches as you type. Click Next when your financial institution appears. If Quicken is unfamiliar with your financial institution, you'll see one more screen that asks you to confirm the name you entered.

Next, you'll be asked if you want to set up your account online or manually. Make your choice, then click Next.

If you clicked Online and your financial institution is one of Quicken's download partners , the next screen you see will ask you to enter your account number and PIN that was provided to you by your financial institution.

Enter the information, and click Next. Quicken connects to the Internet and downloads setup information about the account, then asks you to give the account a name. Do so, then click Next.

You'll see a summary screen with the information you entered. Click Done. Quicken will connect to your financial institution again to download transactions (most financial institutions keep the past 60-180 days online) and will confirm the account's proper setup in the Online Summary window. Click Done.

The account will open , displaying the account holdings. Quicken makes placeholder entries for the current values of the securities in your account. Quicken does not download the cost basis for the holdings, so you should enter the transactions from your account statements that correspond to the placeholder entries, then delete the placeholders.

If you chose to set up the account manually, Quicken will ask you to specify the type of investment account (Standard Brokerage, IRA or Keogh, 401(k) or 403(b), or Single Mutual Fund). Choose the type you want, then click Next.

The next screen differs , depending on the type of investment account you chose, but it will ask you to provide a name and information related to the account. Enter the information, then click Next.

On the next screen, enter information about the cash balance in the account, taken from your latest statement or from the financial institution's Web site. Click Next.

Quicken will connect to the Internet, confirm the symbols, and will then ask you to enter your current holdings for each security. Enter the number of shares you own for each security, and click the button to indicate if the security is a stock, mutual fund, or other security type. When you are done, click Next.

A summary screen appears, allowing you to check your work. If it is correct, click Done. If you made a mistake, click Back and fix the error. When you are done, the account's holdings screen appears, with the current information about the account. Once again, you should enter the cost basis for each security by clicking the Enter links in the Cost Basis column.