You need to record any reinvestments of interest income, dividend income, or capital

gain distributions. Fortunately, as long as you have the reinvestment transaction in-

formation from the mutual fund company—this probably comes on the monthly state-

ment—these transactions are not difficult to record. Specifically, take the following

steps:

1. Display the investment account register.

Click the Accounts & Bills link, and then select Account List so that Money dis-

plays the Pick An Account To Use window. Then click the investment account.

Money displays the account register for the mutual fund.

2. Tell Money you want to record a purchase.

To indicate that you want to record the purchase of additional mutual fund shares,

click the Investment Transactions link. Money then adds the transaction entry area

to the bottom of the account register. To record a new transaction, click the New

button.

3. Describe the date the income or gain is received.

Enter the date on which the income is received or the capital gain distribution is

made in the Date box. Enter the date directly into the Date box, or click the Date

box’s button to display the pop-up calendar.

4. Name the mutual fund.

Click the Investment box’s button, and select the mutual fund name from the list

of mutual fund investments.

5. Identify the transaction as a reinvestment.

Click the Activity box’s button, and then select the appropriate reinvestment

description from the list of investment transactions. For example, if you are recording

the reinvestment of a dividend, select Reinvest Dividend. If you are record-

ing the reinvestment of interest income, select Reinvest Interest. If you are recording

the reinvestment of short-term capital gains, mid-term capital gains, or long-term

capital gains, select the appropriate capital gain reinvestment activity.

6. (Optional) Provide a memo description.

Describe additional information related to the reinvestment in the Memo box. Often

this won’t be necessary.

7. Describe the number of shares purchased by reinvesting.

Click the Quantity box’s button, and then enter the number of shares shown on the

monthly statement that records the reinvestment transaction.

8. Identify the price paid.

Enter the mutual fund share price in the Price box. You can enter mutual fund share

prices using either decimal or fractional share prices. For example, you could enter

the share price as 10.125 or 10 1/8.

9. Describe any commission paid.

Enter the commission or fee you paid in the Commission box. Click the Commis-

sion box’s button to display a pop-up calculator you can use to calculate the

commission.

NOTE Most mutual funds don’t require you to pay a commission simply for reinvest-

ing interest, dividend, or capital gain amounts. If your mutual fund charges you

such a commission, you may want to look at moving your money to another

mutual fund management company where you don’t pay for this transaction.

10. Confirm the total transaction amount.

After you enter the quantity, price, and commission information, Money calculates

the total reinvestment amount and displays this value in the Total box. Confirm that

the total reinvestment transaction amount is correct.

NOTE As mentioned earlier, Money will calculate any one of the following four vari-

ables given the other three: quantity, price, commission, and total. You want

the quantity and total amounts to be precise. Ideally, you also want the price

amount to be correct, although this is less important. What you may want to

do, if you have rounding troubles—this occurs when the mutual fund company

keeps more precise records of data such as fractional shares than does Money—

is have Money calculate the least important yield or value. You might, for ex-

ample, choose to have Money calculate a commission—but the commission

would really equal the rounding amount.

11. Record the reinvestment transaction.

After you have correctly described reinvestment of interest, dividend, or capital gains,

click the Enter button. Money records the reinvestment transactions in the

investment account register.

NOTE Typically, you will record several reinvestment transactions at one time. For

example, at the end of the year, your mutual fund company may report and

distribute interest, dividend, short-term capital gain, and long-term capital gain

amounts and reinvestments. In this case, you would need to record four

separate reinvestment transactions, assuming you reinvested interest, dividend,

short-term capital gain, and long-term capital gain amounts

On Vanguard it has a “General Investing” account and a “Retirement Investment” account. Obviously the latter is for IRAs, but what is the advantages and purpose of the general investing?

To record investment income such as dividend or interest income, or a capital gain

distribution made by the mutual fund company, take the following steps:

1. Display the investment account register.

Click the Accounts & Bills link, and then select Account List so that Money dis-

plays the Pick An Account To Use window. Then click the investment account.

Money displays the account register for the mutual fund.

2. Tell Money you want to record a purchase.

To indicate that you want to record the purchase of additional mutual funds shares,

click the Investment Transactions link. Money then adds the transaction entry area

to the bottom of the account register. To record a new transaction, click the New

button.

3. Describe the date the income or gain is received.

Enter the date on which the income is received or the capital gain distribution is

made in the Date box. Enter the date directly into the Date box, or click the Date

box’s button to display a pop-up calendar that you can use.

4. Name the mutual fund.

Click the Investment box’s button, and then select the mutual fund from the list

of mutual fund investments.

5. Specify the transaction as an income or capital gain transaction.

To identify the transaction you are entering as an income or capital gain transac-

tion, click the Activity box’s button and select the appropriate activity from the list

box. If you are recording interest, select Interest. If you are recording a dividend,

select Dividend. If you are recording short-term capital gains, mid-term capital

gains, or long-term capital gains, select one of these items.

NOTE Don’t select any activity that references reinvestment of interest, dividend, or

capital gain amounts unless you are reinvesting the monies received. The next

question-and-answer discussion describes the steps for recording reinvestment

transactions.

6. Identify the account into which you will deposit the money.

To do this, click the Transfer To box’s button and then select the account into which

you will deposit the interest, dividend, or capital gain check from the list of accounts.

7. (Optional) Describe the deposit in more detail.

Describe the interest, dividend, or capital gain transaction in more detail in the

Memo box. You might identify the amount as a quarterly distribution, for example.

Or, you might identify the reason for depositing the money in a particular account.

8. Specify the income amount.

Specify the amount of interest, dividend, or capital gains received in the Total box.

Enter an amount directly into the Total box, or click the box’s button to display a

pop-up calculator that you can use to calculate or enter an amount.

9. Record the transaction in the register.

After you have described the interest, dividend, or capital gain transaction in

detail, click the Enter button. Money records the transaction in the investment

account register and the transfer account register.

NOTE Interest, dividends, and capital gains transactions for a mutual fund appear in

the investment account register, but don’t actually affect either the number of

shares held or the account value amounts. These transactions belong in the

mutual fund’s investment account register because they stem from the mutual

fund investment, but the amounts appear only in the Transfer To account.