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If you buy a stock in 1999 and then sell it in 2014, you need the amount you paid for the stock in 1999 to calculate whether you have a longterm gain or loss on the sale.  Thus, purchase information from the old PM is needed beyond a 2 years period.

Pilota,

I do a print screen (Alt and Print Screen pressed at the sametime) of the transaction detail of each individual stock in the old PM.  I then copy (Ctrl and V pressed at the sametime) the print screen into an excel file.  I have a worksheet for each individual stock screen print.  At the bottom of the excel file the worksheets are labeled   BAC  C  COP  DHI  FFIV IBM  etc. 

This might be a faster and more accurate than writing down the detail, especially if you have alot of stock transactions.

I'm not very tech savvy, is there a better way?

TWells,

I have all my information on a Bank site (though not as easy to work with as the old PM) so I was just offering suggestions for those who have really been messed up by MSN.  Concern about keeping precise records prior to the previous 24 months are overblown, in my non-CPA opinion.  Yet, I sometimes share their worries.  There is no sense in moaning about the situation...  It was nice while it lasted but it's now over.

I appreciate the procedure you outlined and will try it.  I have sometimes have difficulty in printing a message off my hotmail account!

Thanks for the suggestion.  Good Luck.

Pilota,

I do a print screen (Alt and Print Screen pressed at the sametime) of the transaction detail of each individual stock in the old PM.  I then copy (Ctrl and V pressed at the sametime) the print screen into an excel file.  I have a worksheet for each individual stock screen print.  At the bottom of the excel file the worksheets are labeled   BAC  C  COP  DHI  FFIV IBM  etc. 

This might be a faster and more accurate than writing down the detail, especially if you have alot of stock transactions.

I'm not very tech savvy, is there a better way?

Adriana,

I can now see the old data imported into new watch lists but the data is scrambled. When I try to delete the wrong entries the error message "there is a slow script on this page".  If I click another transactio to try to erase it the page refreshes and I lose my previous actions. Do you know who at MSN decided to use the Portfolo Manager customers as Beta testers?  This fiasco will be noted in case studies for  years regarding  how NOT to roll out changes to software. 

Running out of patience,

A

At least we know for sure that we have to manually pull the data out of the Old Portfolio Manager.  This will be alot of work for me.  I have been using the PM since 1999.  I will be sorry to see the Old PM go and be replaced with a piece of junk.  Thanks MSN for giving me 15 years of the old PM.  All good things come to an end.

Bob, thanks for replying to Adriana's November 26th post.  I didnt see her post.

TWells & Everyone...

We can all see the writing on the wall.  The opportunity to act is now.

Start by putting pen to paper and copying down your complete portfolio starting back on January 1, 2013.  Follow that with a list of all your transaction details since that time, through the end of 2014.  This will give you a record of, at least, what will constitue Long Term gains & losses.

Print a copy of some of the posts on this site and others that refer to "PM" as some sort of record of what efforts you have gone through to preserve what little records you might retain and the difficulty that many others have had in doing the same thing.

Work backwards from 1/1/2013 and try to copy those previous transactions, if you feel it necessary.  You will have made a good faith effort to do what is right in the eyes of the IRS.  It may end up not being enough but you can always call on MSN to provide those records on your behalf.  (At this point, you may now start laughing!)

In other words, do something, even if it turns out to be wrong!  At least an attempt will have been made.

I hope there is a few CPAs or tax lawyers among the posters on this thread who can quickly correct me and offer some real expertise.  But, until that time, we need to do the best we can and move on.

Lastly, if most of us successfully can migrate old data to the 'new' PM, what makes us think that this same type of "improvement" will not happen in another 1 -2 years?

I will continue to be a Microsoft shareholder (as long as they perform financially & continue the dividends) but I do not choose to be a user of many of their products.

Good Luck to All!