422 lines
23 KiB
Markdown
422 lines
23 KiB
Markdown
# Audit against your brokerage
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**Goal:** catch drift between what zfin thinks you hold and what your
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brokerage actually reports -- wrong share counts, sales you forgot to
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record, missing lots, stale manual prices -- by reconciling
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`portfolio.srf` against a positions export.
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**You'll need:** a portfolio whose [`accounts.srf`](set-up-accounts.md)
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entries carry `institution::` and `account_number::` (that's how zfin
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ties an export back to your accounts -- see
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[How accounts are matched](#how-accounts-are-matched)), plus an export
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from a supported broker.
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> Heads up: this is the most heuristic corner of zfin. The brokerage
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> parsers are format-specific, account matching depends on metadata you
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> maintain, and the comparison uses deliberate tolerances. It's the best
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> way to keep your records honest, but expect a little setup and the
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> occasional "why didn't that match?" -- this guide covers the gotchas,
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> not just the happy path.
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## Supported brokers and how to export
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`zfin audit` reconciles against **Fidelity**, **Schwab**, and **Wells
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Fargo**.
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| Broker | How to export | Flag |
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|--------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------|
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| **Fidelity** | *Positions* tab -> the three-dot (**⋮**) menu -> **Download** (a CSV) | `--fidelity <CSV>` |
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| **Schwab** (positions) | *Accounts -> Positions*: pick **All Brokerage Accounts** (or one account) in the dropdown -> **Export** | `--schwab <CSV>` |
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| **Schwab** (summary) | *Accounts -> Summary*: select the accounts table and copy it ([what to copy](#schwab-summary-what-to-copy)) | `--schwab-summary` |
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| **Wells Fargo** | Download Type **Portfolio-Expanded Detail**, Portfolio View **Positions**, all brokerage accounts (an `.xls`) | `--wells-fargo <XLS>` |
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The two Schwab inputs differ in detail: the **positions CSV** has full
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per-position data (shares, price, value) for whichever accounts you
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picked -- every one of them with **All Brokerage Accounts**, which is
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the easy choice; the **summary paste** carries only each account's cash
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and total value, so it reconciles *totals*, not individual holdings.
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Use the summary for a quick "are my account totals right?", the CSV for
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position-level checks. (Fidelity money-market rows and Schwab "Cash &
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Cash Investments" rows are recognized as cash.)
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The Fidelity **Download** isn't a top-level button -- it's behind the
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three-dot (**⋮**) menu at the top-right of the positions panel:
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*(The account list down the left side is blanked out above.)*
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### Schwab summary: what to copy
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The summary paste comes from Schwab's **Accounts -> Summary** page.
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Scroll to the **Accounts** table, drag-select from the first account's
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name through the last row, and copy. Then either save it as a `.txt`
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file in your `audit/` folder (where auto-discovery will find it) or pipe
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it straight in:
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```bash
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zfin audit --schwab-summary # paste, then Ctrl-D
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```
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A good paste is repeating three-line blocks -- the account name, the
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"ending in" line, then a values line -- and looks about like this
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(figures fictional):
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```
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Sample Roth IRA
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Account number ending in 1234 ...1234
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Type IRA $46.44 $227,058.15 +$1,072.88 +0.47%
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Sample Brokerage
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Account number ending in 5678 ...5678
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Type Brokerage $12,500.00 $980,000.00 +$3,200.00 +0.33%
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Sample Trust
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Account number ending in 9012 ...9012
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Type $2,000.00 $415,300.00 +$1,150.00 +0.28%
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```
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zfin anchors on each **"Account number ending in"** line (its trailing
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digits are the account number) and reads the **first two dollar figures**
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on the line below as **cash** then **total value** -- everything else on
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that line is ignored, and the account-type word is optional. If your copy
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looks nothing like this -- no "ending in" lines, or no dollar figures --
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you grabbed the wrong region. Because it carries only cash and totals,
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the summary reconciles **account totals**, not individual positions.
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## Run it
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**Point it at a file:**
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```bash
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ZFIN_HOME=~/finance zfin audit --fidelity ~/Downloads/Portfolio_Positions.csv
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ZFIN_HOME=~/finance zfin audit --schwab ~/Downloads/All-Accounts-Positions.csv
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ZFIN_HOME=~/finance zfin audit --schwab-summary # then paste the page, Ctrl-D
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```
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**Or run it with no flags** -- `zfin audit` does a portfolio hygiene
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check *and* auto-discovers and reconciles any recent exports it finds
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(next two sections).
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## The hygiene check
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With no flags, `zfin audit` first prints a health report:
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- **Stale manual prices** -- lots with a manual `price::` older than
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`--stale-days` (default 3).
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- **Accounts overdue for update** -- accounts past their
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`update_cadence` (see [accounts.srf](set-up-accounts.md#3-tune-the-maintenance-cadence)).
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- **Brokerage files** it discovered, which it then reconciles.
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- **Config file problems** -- field-name typos in your `.srf` files, impossible
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lot dates, and values zfin had to ignore or adjust.
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```
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Portfolio hygiene
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Stale manual prices (>3 days - --stale-days to configure)
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(none)
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Accounts overdue for update (weekly default - set update_cadence in accounts.srf)
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Sample IRA weekly no update history found
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Sample Brokerage weekly no update history found
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```
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"No update history found" is a nudge, not an error -- silence accounts
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you don't actively track with `update_cadence::none`.
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### Config file problems
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Your `.srf` files can be wrong in ways that don't stop them loading.
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zfin reads what it understands and quietly ignores or works around the
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rest, so a mistake can change your numbers with no error at all.
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`zfin audit` checks `portfolio*.srf`, `accounts.srf`, `metadata.srf`,
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`transaction_log.srf`, `projections.srf`, and `watchlist.srf` for three
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kinds of problem, and prints nothing when there aren't any:
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```
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Config file problems
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portfolio.srf
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line 3: unrecognized field 'price_dat' - did you mean 'price_date'?
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line 4: BND close_date 2062-03-14 is in the future - the lot is still counted as held until then
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line 5: AAPL has close_date but no close_price - the sale's realized gain is recorded as 0
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valid fields:
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symbol shares open_date open_price close_date close_price note
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label account security_type maturity_date rate drip ticker price
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price_date price_ratio split_factor underlying strike multiplier
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option_type
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accounts.srf
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line 2: account 'Sample Brokerage': audit_large_lot_threshold must be > 0 (got 0); ignored, so the audit uses its default
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line 4: account 'Sample Roth': tax_mix_* must not name the account's own tax_type; the tax mix is ignored and the account counts wholly as roth
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```
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Each finding names the line of the record it came from, and the date
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and value findings also say what zfin is doing instead of what you
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wrote.
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#### 1. Field names (every file)
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SRF matches record keys against field names exactly. A key that matches
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nothing is **discarded without complaint** -- a misspelled `price_dat::`
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is indistinguishable from having left the price date out. Most fields
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have defaults, so most typos change behavior with no output at all.
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| Report | Meaning |
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|-----------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| `did you mean '...'?` | A dropped or doubled character. The suggested name is a real field. |
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| `differs only by case` | `Account` is not `account`. Matching is case-sensitive, so this silently does nothing. |
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| `ignored for security_type` | A real field that this kind of lot never reads -- e.g. `rate` outside a `cd`. |
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| `appears twice` | SRF keeps the **first** occurrence. Editing the second one has no effect. |
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| `derived by zfin` | zfin computes this field; a hand-written value is overwritten. Delete it. |
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| `unrecognized field` | No match and no close relative. Check it against the `valid fields` list. |
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The suggestions are deliberately cautious -- they only fire when a real
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field name is a prefix of what you typed, or differs from it only by
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case -- so a suggestion is never a guess. That means a typo in the
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*middle* of a name (`update_cadance`) gets no suggestion, which is why
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the **`valid fields` list** is printed whenever a field name is in
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question. It comes straight from the code, so unlike any document it
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cannot be out of date.
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#### 2. Lot dates (`portfolio*.srf`)
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These fields parse fine but describe a lot that can't exist. Each one
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changes what zfin counts -- a future `close_date` keeps the lot held
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until that day -- and each is almost certainly not what you meant.
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| Report | What zfin does with it |
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|--------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| `close_date ... is in the future` | Counts the lot as held until that date. Usually a mistyped year. |
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| `close_date ... is before open_date` | The lot is never counted as held on any date. |
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| `has close_date but no close_price` | Stock lots only. The sale's realized gain is recorded as 0. |
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| `has close_price but no close_date` | The lot stays held, and the close price is ignored. |
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| `open_date ... is in the future` | The lot is left out of your positions until that date. |
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| `price_date ... is in the future` | Stock lots only. The manual price counts as fresh, so it is never flagged as stale. |
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A close dated today is already closed, and a same-day buy-and-sell
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(`close_date` equal to `open_date`) is fine. A future `maturity_date` is
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normal -- that is the field for a CD or option that ends on a known
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date. Watch lots are exempt, since zfin reads only their `symbol`. See
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[Closed lots](../reference/config/portfolio-srf.md#closed-lots).
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#### 3. Values zfin rejects or adjusts (`accounts.srf`, `projections.srf`)
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Values that parse but can't be used as written. zfin replaces or clamps
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them so the file still loads -- just not the way you wrote it. Each of
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these is also logged to stderr when the file loads; the audit is where
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it gets a line number and can't scroll past.
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**`accounts.srf`**
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| Report | What zfin does instead |
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|-----------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| `audit_large_lot_threshold must be > 0` | Uses the audit's built-in threshold. |
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| `harvested must be a finite number` | Drops the harvested figure (only reachable by typing `inf` or `nan`). |
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| `tax_mix_* ...` (any of the four rules below) | Ignores the whole tax mix; the account counts wholly as its `tax_type`. |
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The four tax-mix rules: every `tax_mix_*` carve-out must be above 0 and
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a finite number, none may name the account's own `tax_type`, and
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together they must sum to less than 100. See
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[`accounts.srf`](../reference/config/accounts-srf.md).
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**`projections.srf`**
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| Report | What zfin does instead |
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|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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| `return_cap`, `annual_contribution`, `target_spending`, or `survivor_spending_pct` `must be >= 0` | Ignores that value; an earlier line's value, or the default, stands. |
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| `horizon`, `horizon_age`, or `max_accumulation_years` `must be > 0` | Ignores that value. |
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| `spending_change capped` | Clamps it to 10%/yr either way -- a larger figure is almost always a units slip. |
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| `max_accumulation_years capped` | Clamps it to 100. |
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| `benchmark_stock` / `benchmark_bond` `must be 1..16 chars` | Ignores the symbol and keeps `SPY` / `AGG`. |
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| `retirement_target must be 90, 95, or 99` | Ignores the annotation on that horizon. |
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| `retirement_target set on multiple horizons` | Ignores **all** of them and uses the default promotion rule. Names both lines. |
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| `horizon limit` / `horizon_age limit` (more than 8 of either) | Ignores the extras. |
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| `event limit` (more than 16), or an event with `start_age 0` | Ignores that event. |
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| `birthdate person index ... exceeds limit` (more than 4 people) | Ignores that birthdate. |
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| `skipping malformed record` | Drops the whole line -- e.g. a misspelled `type::`, or text where a number belongs. |
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| `stopped reading` | Ignores that line **and everything after it**. |
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The last two matter most: this file never fails to load, so a line zfin
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couldn't read otherwise just quietly reverts to defaults. See
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[`projections.srf`](../reference/config/projections-srf.md).
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#### Also in `zfin doctor`
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`zfin doctor` reports the same findings one file at a time, with a link
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to each file's reference page, and also covers `keys.srf`, `theme.srf`,
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and `acknowledgments.srf`. Neither command changes its exit code over
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any of these -- they're nudges, not failures.
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## Auto-discovery (and your download folder)
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With no `--fidelity`/`--schwab` flag, zfin looks for exports in two
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places:
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1. **`$ZFIN_AUDIT_FILES`** -- a directory *you* set. Point it at wherever
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your browser saves downloads (e.g. `~/Downloads`) so a
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just-downloaded export is found with no copying or renaming. (zfin
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does **not** scan it on its own -- you opt in by setting this.)
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2. **`<portfolio-dir>/audit/`** -- a dedicated subfolder next to your
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`portfolio.srf`, for exports you want to keep around.
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What it considers:
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- **Only files modified in the last 24 hours.** Your browser saves the
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export to its download folder with names like
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`Portfolio_Positions_Jun-19.csv`; the
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recency window keeps zfin reconciling *the one you just pulled*, not
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last quarter's.
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- **Detected by content, not filename.** zfin sniffs the contents --
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Fidelity by its legal footer, a Schwab CSV by its leading `"Positions
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for ...`, a Schwab summary by `Account number ending in`, a Wells
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Fargo spreadsheet by its `WFA_Positions` sheet. A renamed file still
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works; an unrelated file is skipped.
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- **A Wells Fargo export with none of your accounts is skipped.** One WF
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download covers a whole household, so if you also manage someone
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else's WF accounts, their export in your download folder is noted and
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skipped rather than reported as eight unmapped accounts.
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So with `ZFIN_AUDIT_FILES=~/Downloads`, the workflow collapses to
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"download from your broker, run `zfin audit`, done."
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## How accounts are matched
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This is the part that trips people up. An export covers one or more
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**accounts**, and zfin has to tie each one to an account in your
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portfolio. It does that through
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[`accounts.srf`](set-up-accounts.md#2-add-institution-and-account-number-for-auditing):
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- The export carries an account number -- Schwab's from the "Positions
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for account ...1234" title (or, in an all-accounts export, the
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"...1234" line that opens each account's section), Fidelity's from the
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Account Number column, the summary's from "...ending in 1234", Wells
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Fargo's from each row's `*1234`.
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- zfin finds the `accounts.srf` entry whose `institution::` (`fidelity`,
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`schwab`, `wells_fargo`) **and** `account_number::` match, and
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compares against that account's lots.
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- **No match -> the account is shown as `unmapped`** and flagged as a
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discrepancy. Fix it by adding `institution::` and `account_number::`
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to that account in `accounts.srf` (a placeholder number you recognize
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is fine -- it just has to match what the export shows).
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## Reading the report
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zfin treats the **brokerage as the source of truth** and shows, per
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account, your portfolio (PF) against the broker (BR). Figures below are
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illustrative and fictional:
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```
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Portfolio Audit (brokerage is source of truth)
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========================================
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Sample Brokerage *1234
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Symbol PF Shares BR Shares PF Price BR Price
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VTI 100.000 100.000 373.38 373.38 ok
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SCHD 200.000 210.000 31.86 31.86 brokerage +10.000
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AGG 50.000 0.000 portfolio only
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```
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- **Portfolio-only** rows are lots the broker no longer shows -- a sale
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you forgot to remove, or a mistyped symbol.
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- **Brokerage-only** rows are holdings missing from your portfolio.
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- A share or value **delta** flags a count or price mismatch.
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`--verbose` prints the full comparison even when everything reconciles.
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### Discrepancies, and which ones are muted
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- **Cash matches to the penny.** It's an exact figure on both sides, so
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any gap is real (e.g. money-market dividend accrual between updates)
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and is surfaced as a warning.
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- **Securities get ~$1 of slack** for sub-cent NAV rounding on large
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positions. Beyond that, a value delta is a **warning by default** --
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your records should reconcile to the dollar.
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- **Two cases are muted instead** -- still shown (and still in the
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totals), just greyed out as "expected, you probably don't care." Muting
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never hides a discrepancy:
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- **CDs.** zfin carries a CD at face value while the broker marks it to
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the secondary market. That gap is muted up to a band computed from
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the CD's own `rate` and time to maturity (capped at one year's
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coupon); anything larger still warns. We can't reproduce the broker's
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exact mark without a live yield, so we bound it instead.
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- **Options.** zfin tracks options at cost while the broker marks to
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market, and that gap is unbounded without a live quote. So an account
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holding open options mutes its account-level value delta -- drill into
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the per-position export (`--schwab` / `--fidelity`) to check share
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counts, which are never muted.
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- **Share-count mismatches are never muted.**
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### Institutional share classes
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If a lot is priced through a retail-ticker `ticker::` alias while the
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account actually holds an institutional class (a different NAV), audit
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compares against the broker's NAV and can **suggest a `price_ratio`** to
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bridge the gap. A suggestion is only made when it would move the lot's
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value by at least a dollar, the same slack the comparison allows. See
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[price resolution](../reference/config/portfolio-srf.md#advanced-and-option-fields).
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### Direct-indexing accounts
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An account flagged `direct_indexing:bool:true` in `accounts.srf` is held
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in the portfolio as one proxy lot (see
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[tracking a synthetic account](set-up-accounts.md#5-track-tax-loss-harvested-on-a-synthetic-account)),
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while the export lists every real holding. Audit compares the two as
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**one row**: all of the account's non-cash export rows are summed onto
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the proxy, and cash is compared as usual. The row's value delta is the
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proxy's drift, and the `price_ratio` suggestion is exactly the ratio
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that closes it.
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This needs the account's one open stock lot to be its proxy. With zero
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or several, audit compares holding by holding, which shows the mismatch
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plainly instead of guessing. For a Wells Fargo account the proxy is
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kept current by [`zfin import`](../reference/cli/import.md#direct-indexing-accounts),
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so auditing against the export you just imported shows no drift.
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## Why it's finicky
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- The parsers are **broker-specific**. The CSV parsers hardcode each
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export's column layout -- if Fidelity or Schwab changes their format,
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parsing can break (both validate their header to catch this, and the
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Schwab parser checks each account's "Positions Total" against the rows
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above it). They are not full RFC-4180 CSV parsers (no escaped quotes or
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multi-line fields) -- fine for the real exports, not for arbitrary
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CSVs. The Wells Fargo parser finds columns by header name and checks
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every per-account total against the lots under it, so a layout change
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fails loudly.
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- Matching is only as good as the `institution::` / `account_number::`
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entries you keep in `accounts.srf`.
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- Options, CDs, and cash are reconciled separately from share counts.
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None of this is a reason to skip it -- it's the single best way to keep
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your records honest -- just know it expects some setup and an occasional
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manual nudge.
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### Wells Fargo: one file, every account, real lots
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Two things about the Wells Fargo spreadsheet are worth knowing:
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- **It covers the whole household.** Like Fidelity's download and
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Schwab's **All Brokerage Accounts** export, every brokerage account is
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in one file, each row tagged with its account as `*1234`.
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- **It lists tax lots, not positions.** Audit sums them per account and
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symbol before comparing, so it doesn't matter whether your portfolio
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holds the position as one lot or many. It also means
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[`zfin import --wells-fargo`](../reference/cli/import.md) can build a
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portfolio file with every lot's real trade date and cost, which is the
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easy way to keep a WF-managed portfolio current.
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Pick **Portfolio-Expanded Detail**, not Collapsed: the collapsed download
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has no lot rows, and zfin rejects it with a message saying so. Cash
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(balance, sweep, and accrued interest) is compared per account against
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your cash lots.
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> **Keep brokerage exports private.** They contain real account numbers
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> and holdings. Store them outside any git repository and delete them
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> when you're done reconciling.
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## Next steps
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- [`zfin audit` reference](../reference/cli/audit.md) -- every flag.
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- [Map your accounts](set-up-accounts.md) -- the `institution` / `account_number` matching keys.
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- [`zfin import`](../reference/cli/import.md) -- build a portfolio file *from* an export.
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---
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[Previous: Plan for retirement](plan-retirement.md) | [Next: A periodic review](periodic-review.md) | [Documentation home](../README.md)
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