How to Handle Vanguard Change to Admiral Shares

[Les]

I have a Vanguard fund that recently changed from a "regular" fund to an
Admiral fund. This means that there is a slightly lower expense ratio. I
downloaded the Vanguard transactions into Quicken, but in doing so, it seems
that it has caused the the performance of the account to be adversely
affected and be incorrect.

In changing to Admiral shares, the fund symbol changes and the number of
shares changes (since price per share is different). There are 2
transactions in the account register:

1. the action is "removed" and the number of shares are identified of the
regular fund
2. the action is "added" and the numbe of shares of the Admiral fund are
identified.

Anyone have a similar problem with Vanguard fund conversions? Is there a
better way so Quicken does not impact account performance?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[John Pollard]

I have a Vanguard fund that recently changed from a
"regular" fund to an Admiral fund. This means that there
is a slightly lower expense ratio. I downloaded the
Vanguard transactions into Quicken, but in doing so, it
seems that it has caused the the performance of the
account to be adversely affected and be incorrect.
In changing to Admiral shares, the fund symbol changes
and the number of shares changes (since price per share
is different). There are 2 transactions in the account
register:
1. the action is "removed" and the number of shares are
identified of the regular fund
2. the action is "added" and the numbe of shares of the
Admiral fund are identified.

Anyone have a similar problem with Vanguard fund
conversions? Is there a better way so Quicken does not
impact account performance?

I'm confused by your concern.

Why would you not expect there to be a difference in the
performance of your account? The two funds are different
securities: if they were not different securities, they would
not exist. If their performance was *exactly* the same, there
would be no reason for them to exist as separate securities.

 

[Bob L.]

I'm confused by your concern.

Why would you not expect there to be a difference in the
performance of your account? The two funds are different
securities: if they were not different securities, they would
not exist. If their performance was *exactly* the same, there
would be no reason for them to exist as separate securities.

I believe the problem is the download. The correct way to handle a
conversion to admiral shares is to treat it like a stock acquisition,
and the performance measures will then properly reflect the conversion.

Bob L.

 

[Les]

Bob-

Thanks for the suggestion to use the corporate acquisition transaction. The
problem has been solved!! I wonder why Vanguard downloads the 2
transactions they do since they mess up the performance measurement??

 

[Don in San Antonio]

Les said the following on 4/8/2007 12:30 PM:

Bob-

Thanks for the suggestion to use the corporate acquisition transaction. The
problem has been solved!! I wonder why Vanguard downloads the 2
transactions they do since they mess up the performance measurement??

Thanks for the question about converting to Vanguard Admiral shares. I
didn't realize the impact this change has on Quicken accounts.

Don

 

[Alfredo]

Let me add a twist to the formula. I have owned Vanguard Index 500
investor shares since 1995. Removing and adding shares for 12 years is,
frankly, a pain in the butt. To complicate matters, not all shares were
transferred. To complicate them even further, I also own Investor shares
in my IRA which will not transfer to Admiral shares. Any shortcuts?

Alfredo Camacho
____________________________________

 

[Don in San Antonio]

Alfredo said the following on 5/6/2007 7:39 AM:

Let me add a twist to the formula. I have owned Vanguard Index 500
investor shares since 1995. Removing and adding shares for 12 years is,
frankly, a pain in the butt. To complicate matters, not all shares were
transferred. To complicate them even further, I also own Investor shares
in my IRA which will not transfer to Admiral shares. Any shortcuts?

Alfredo Camacho
____________________________________

I don't have an answer but I understand the problem. I have a mutual
fund merger that makes the same changes. I tried using a Corporate
Acquisition transaction but didn't like how it created a new transaction
for every existing buy or sell transaction in the account. I'm
beginning to think the best course of action is to sell all the existing
shares in the old account then create a new account and purchase the new
shares. This is pretty close to what really happened.

Come to think about it, Vanguard lets you put all mutual funds in a
single Quicken account. If that's the option you chose to use, all you
need to do is create a new Admiral Fund share type then sell the old
Index 500 shares and buy the new Admiral shares.
Don