Tracking funds in a 401k

[Fred Frigerio]

The way I set it up was under Assets:
I have an Investments Acct:
                         Retirement Acct (Type Bank)
                                    403b Acct (Type Bank)
                                            Employer Contributions (Bank)
                                                      Fund 1(Mutual Fund)
                                                      Fund 2(Mutual Fund)
                                                      Fund 3(Mutual Fund)
                                            Employee Contributions (Bank)
                                                      Fund 1(Mutual Fund)
                                                      Fund 2(Mutual Fund)
                                                      Fund 3(Mutual Fund)

Of course you don't have to break into Employee/Employer contributions 
if you don't want. I also create a sub account that is 
Contributions/2001, /2002, etc. so that I know how much has gone to 
every year without having to do a report. In particular that is usefull 
for IRA types where you can have a 2002 contribution in 2003. That helps 
me to stay within the allowable limits.

Then when you get paid you have a split
       Expenses:Taxes:Federal                                            
       Expenses:Taxes:Soc Sec
       Expenses:Taxes:Medicare
       Expenses:Insurance:Life Insurance
       Expenses: whatever other deductions
       Assets:Current Assests:Direct Deposit Account
       Assets:Investments:Retirement:403b:Employee
       Assets:Investments:Retirement:403b:Employer
       Income:Salary
       Income:Matching 403b

Then you just need to do a transaction for the funds purchase in the 
403b account.

Bradford R. Bowman wrote:

>I am having trouble figuring out the best way to track the value of a
>403(a) (a 401(k)-like account for non-profits).  Perhaps someone can
>suggest a simpler method that the one I am thinking of. I have no
>accounting knowledge at all, as will be obvious.
>
>The situation is fairly typical: each pay period there is an employee
>contribution to the fund that is matched by the employer (up to an
>annual cap).  These contributions are divided according to set
>percentages and applied to the purchase of shares in four different
>funds managed by TIAA-CREF. The per share value of each fund fluctuates
>separately, so that even if she splits the contributions across the four
>funds evenly for a given pay check, she acquires a different number of
>shares in each fund. 
>
>I want to be able to account for the employee contribution that is
>deducted from her paycheck, but the nature of the retirement account
>makes this complicated, as it appears that I need to reference the
>current share prices of each separate fund and then calculate the
>increase in shares.
>
>Originally, I just had one account, labeled 401k, which was a "bank"
>type account. But that is not accurate.  It seems to me that the only
>way I can track the value of this is by making the 401k a "mutual fund"
>type account, and then splitting it into four separate accounts -- one
>for each of the four funds, like so:
>
>9/16 Teacher Salary 
>	Income:Salary				1,000.00
>	Investments:401k:fund1		25.00
>	Investments:401k:fund2		25.00
>	Investments:401k:fund3		25.00
>	Investments:401k:fund4		25.00
>	Expenses:Taxes:etc...
>
>9/16 Employer 401k contribution
>	Equity:Employer match		25.00
>	Investments:401k:fund1
>	etc...
>
>This just seems crazy though. Is it? Is there an easier or better way?
>Any advice would be appreciated.
>
>  
>