How do I buy a security?
Use the Shares Bought dialog to record the purchase of shares of a stock or mutual fund. Quicken tracks purchase price and lots; these will be important later when you use the Capital Gains Estimator to minimize the tax liability incurred by sales. Similarly, cost basis information can be captured at the time of sale.
- Open the account you want to use.
- Click Enter Transactions.
- In the Enter Transaction list, select Buy - Shares Bought.
- Use the dialog to record the purchase of a security. Click a link below for more information.
- Click Enter/New to enter another transaction, or Enter/Done to finish.
Notes
There are separate procedures to handle the purchase, or exercise, of:
- Employee stock options (ESOGs)
- Employee stock purchase plans (ESPPs)
- Exchange-traded options
- All bond types except U.S. Savings bonds: use the Buy Bond dialog. (Use the above procedure for U.S. Savings bonds.)
- For a 401(k) accounts, see Entering updates to a 401(k) account.
Recording a transaction in Quicken does not execute a real-world trade, transfer, or other transaction. Contact your broker to execute trades or transfers, and then manually record the transactions in Quicken—better yet, download them directly from your participating financial institution.