Review: MS Money

In last couple of months I have tried out MS Money 2002 and finally bought the software last month. This article is a simple review of the same and how you can try it and derive similar benefits if you like. This article may not be much relevant to people in India. I don’t know whether Indian version of MS Money 2002 international version is available.

Step 1: Download Trial Version of MS Money 2002 deluxe from this link: http://www.microsoft.com/money/productinfo/download_02.htm

Step 2: Download your bank statements and import the statements (Checking, Credit Card Account Statements). Most of the banks provide MS Money compatible statements.

Step 3: Create Income, Expenses and Budgets. You can add your paycheck, recurring expenses and create a monthly budget. I was doing this on Paper for last few years and finally I have it in this tool.

Step 4: Match your downloaded statements with corresponding categories and accept all the downloaded statements after setting appropriate categories to each expense.

Step 5: Create Bills and Deposits (Easiest way is select a transaction in your credit card or checking account and use right click and select Add to Bills and set the next due date etc.)

Now you can check the following

1. Cash flow for next few months

2. Compare Budget vs Actuals of your income and expenses.

3. Set Saving Targets and check how long it will take you to reach them.

As I mentioned in my other articles I have the habit of tracking my personal expenses for a long time. I was looking for a good tool which will help me in doing it better. I came across the link in one of the newsletters from Microsoft which gave location of trial version of Microsoft Money 2002. I downloaded the same and started entering my expenses in this system on a trial basis.

Do this for a month and then check the reports it creates for you. Since the evaluation lasts two month, you can try it for two month. Compare two months expenses. I was really impressed.

Check out your cash flow report for any period you select. Understand your worth and how much you can save. You can even track your investments in stocks etc.

You can create multiple accounts for each credit card, account you have and get overall picture. You can also maintain a cash account.

Summary

Understanding how much money is being spent is important for every one. By using a tool like MS Money it can be easier. I am not recommending only this tool. If you are comfortable with another tool like Quicken, use that. I realized the benefits by doing an evaluation and finally bought the software as I felt the amount I spent on it is worth for the convenience it gave me. I also found a 30$ mail-in rebate in Costco for MS Money 2002 and bought it as it was a good deal.