<title>Track a margin loan on an investment account</title>
<category>lifeplan</category>
<klink type="prcdr">How do I track a margin loan on an investment account?</klink>
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<tease>Why?</tease>
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<p>Many brokers let their customers take out margin loans, or borrow against the value of their investments, in order to raise funds for other investment opportunities. To track a margin loan, you don't need to create a separate loan account, as it's really just a part of your investment account, and appears that way on your investment statements. You can track a margin loan in Money by recording your loan and payments as cash transactions in your investment account.</p>
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<p variant="note">If you download online statements from your broker, you may not need to go through these steps. Check your downloaded transactions to see how the loan and payments appear.</p>
<ol>
<li>On the <emph>Accounts & Bills</emph> menu, click <emph>Account List</emph>.</li>
<li>Click the investment account you've borrowed against.</li>
<li>In the left pane, click <emph>Cash Transactions</emph>.</li>
<li>You can record the margin loan amount, margin interest, and margin loan payments:</li>
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<ul>
<li>To record the margin loan amount, enter the loan amount as a transfer or withdrawal from the account.</li>
<li>To record the margin interest, click the <emph>Withdrawal </emph>tab, enter the appropriate information, and then click <emph>Enter</emph>. Click <emph>Common Withdrawals</emph> (on the transaction form), select <emph>Margin Loan Interest</emph>, and then complete the information.</li>
<li>To record the margin loan payments, record them the same way you would any regular transfer from one account to another. <alink type="cncpt" href="transfermoneybetweenaccounts.xml"/></li>
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<tease>Should I include a margin loan in my debt plan?</tease>
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<p>No. Low-interest loans without a fixed payment schedule, such as margin loans, don't need to be included in your debt reduction plan.</p>