Here’s a plugin <https://github.com/hoostus/beancount-asset-transfer-plugin>
that does what you want. But more interestingly, the README on that page
explains and shows you how to do it.
When transferring assets in-kind (for example between two brokerages) you
want to preserve the cost basis and acquisition date of each lot. You can
do this manually in beancount like so:
2021-09-10 * "Transfer APPL from Schwab to Fidelity" Assets:Schwab -100
AAPL {10.00 USD, 2018-05-18} Assets:Fidelity 100 APPL {10.00 USD,
2018-05-18}
On Friday, June 20, 2025 at 4:06:38 PM UTC-7 Alex Kaufman wrote:
> Thank you for the help here. It sounds like the most straightforward
> option for transferring accounts with average cost booking without
> realizing nonexistent profit or changing the cost basis then is the final
> option you mentioned.
>
> I attempted the following transaction and receive an error "Too many
> missing numbers for currency group 'USD'" .
>
> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {}
> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {USD}
>
> On Friday, June 20, 2025 at 7:57:39 AM UTC-7 Martin Blais wrote:
>
>> On Fri, Jun 20, 2025 at 6:47 AM Alex Kaufman <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello, I have been reading through docs and trying to make heads or
>>> tails of how to do this operation. Recently I consolidated retirement
>>> accounts. As part of this process my holdings were transferred over
>>> directly from one account to the other. I am sure I am misunderstanding
>>> something but I have been testing various methods for a while and cannot
>>> figure out the right way to approach this problem. Any recommendations for
>>> ways to reframe the problem or think about it differently instead of just
>>> accomplishing the immediate goal are welcome and encouraged.
>>>
>>> It may be as simple as my misunderstanding price/cost or the cost and
>>> market value views in fava. I could also be drastically over complicating
>>> things. Thank you all in advance for your help! Below is an initial state
>>> beancount file to provide a minimal example. I have also included two
>>> examples of some potential transfer transactions to append to the setup
>>> file and the reasons why they dont really work.
>>>
>>> Broker1 is set up as "NONE" bookkeeping due to the way the broker
>>> provided statements. This was a major motivator for migrating to Broker2.
>>>
>>> option "operating_currency" "USD"
>>>
>>> 2024-01-01 open Assets:BankAccount
>>> 2024-01-01 open Equity:Opening-Balances
>>>
>>> 2024-01-02 pad Assets:BankAccount Equity:Opening-Balances
>>> 2024-01-03 balance Assets:BankAccount 100 USD
>>>
>>> 2024-12-31 open Assets:Broker1:STOCK "NONE"
>>> 2024-12-31 open Assets:Broker2:STOCK
>>>
>>> 2025-01-01 * "invest 1"
>>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK 10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD}
>>> Assets:BankAccount -10.00 USD
>>>
>>> 2025-01-02 * "invest 2"
>>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK 10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD}
>>> Assets:BankAccount -20.00 USD
>>>
>>> *Example 1:*
>>>
>>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
>>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {}
>>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 10 STOCK
>>>
>>> Here is one attempt I have tried. It sort of works in that there are no
>>> errors shown in fava but in the cost and market value views it doesnt
>>> convert to USD.
>>>
>>
>> Here it doesn't know what to do; Do you want to exchange dollars? You're
>> only saying STOCK units on the second posting.
>> This gets resolved as
>>
>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {USD}
>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20 STOCK {{40.00 USD}}
>>
>> (Use the "bean-doctor context" command)
>> Regardless, this input is incorrect.
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>> [image: Screenshot 2025-06-19 at 9.50.10 PM.png]
>>>
>>> Example 2:
>>>
>>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
>>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {USD}
>>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20 STOCK {{40.00 USD}}
>>>
>>>
>>> Another attempt I have made is to change the transfer according to the
>>> syntax defined in github issue 476
>>> <https://github.com/beancount/beancount/issues/476>. If I do not
>>> specify the cost of the stock in broker 2 I get an error stating the
>>> transaction is not balanced. However if I do specify the current price/cost
>>> of the stock it seems to show that there has been a $10 negative balance to
>>> Broker 1. In the MarketValue view this shows correctly..
>>>
>>
>> But you don't have $40 of cost basis. You have $30 of cost basis. Try
>> with that (which is correctd).
>> It will resolve as
>>
>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01} ; -10.0000
>> USD
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02} ; -20.0000
>> USD
>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {1.50 USD, 2025-01-03} ; 30.00
>> USD
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> [image: Screenshot 2025-06-19 at 9.59.39 PM.png]
>>>
>>> Example 3:
>>>
>>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
>>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {} @ 2.00 USD
>>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {{40.00 USD}}
>>> Income:Investment -10.00 USD
>>>
>>> This option resolves the confusion in both the cost and market value
>>> views. However now we are including a sort of fake income that we havent
>>> actually realized.
>>>
>>
>> No. You're realizing the profit here and erroneously stepping up your
>> cost basis to $40.
>> This is what it resolves to:
>>
>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01} @ 2.00 USD ;
>> -10.0000 USD
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02} @ 2.00 USD ;
>> -20.0000 USD
>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-03} ;
>> 40.00 USD
>> Income:Investment -10.00 USD ;
>> -10.00 USD
>>
>>
>>
>>> It also requires that we know the exact amount of that income because
>>> leaving the specific value blank to try to soak up any income results in
>>> the error Too many missing numbers for currency group 'USD', In my
>>> case I dont know the exact income value for each of the stocks coming over
>>> from broker1 to broker 2 because it is a retirement account and is
>>> basically using average bookkeeping.
>>>
>>>
>>> If you're not selling you want to avoid realizing _any_ income.
>> You want to close all the postings in the account prior to the
>> transaction.
>> You can either list all the postings using "bean-doctor context" and copy
>> them over, or, use the total number of units, which should unambiguously
>> resolve to all the postings.
>>
>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -20.00 STOCK {}
>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {USD}
>>
>> resolves to
>>
>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01} ; -10.0000
>> USD
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02} ; -20.0000
>> USD
>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 20.00 STOCK {1.50 USD, 2025-01-03} ; 30.0000
>> USD
>>
>>
>> On the opening sice, if you want to replicate all the same postings, you
>> could do this instead:
>>
>> 2025-01-03 * "transfer"
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01}
>> Assets:Broker1:STOCK -10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02}
>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 10.00 STOCK {1.00 USD, 2025-01-01}
>> Assets:Broker2:STOCK 10.00 STOCK {2.00 USD, 2025-01-02}
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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