I've divided my accounts payable into two groups: 1st of the month due any time from the 1st to the 14th and 15th of the month due from the 15th to the end of the month. These date ranges also correspond roughly with payday cycles. About 7 days before the 1st or 15th, I process all of the bills in that group so that they are paid on payday. The bill payments are sent from within the PFM, so they are automatically entered in the register as future transactions.
I enter a post-dated transaction that represents my estimated paycheck, and post-dated transactions to represent any ACH draws water bill, car insurance. The end result is that I can look ahead in my register and estimate with a fair amount of accuracy how much cash I can blow on gadgets, gifts, going out with the family, etc. The added bonus of the PFM is that my register, including my future transactions, is continuously automatically reconciled whenever I sync with my bank.
I always have a good idea of my net worth and what needs attention. I just cannot imagine tracking all of this without a PFM. Side note: Am I the only one for whom the comment preview is rather At least in Firefox, anyway.
Cam Soper. Scott- I left Quicken a couple of years ago. For three years before that I was the lead engineer for Online Banking. I can only say that Quicken is over twenty years old. The code reflects that. Any new app would be much smaller and more responsive, and, well, better. But the market isn't there for Intuit to invest that much. As for an online version solving the problem, as you pointed out, so many of the problems come from the banks themselves, an online version can't help that.
And the banks want to keep you on their site, not using Quicken and it's apparently working. As for OFX, what's the point of a consortium when none of the banks ever left version 1. Also, it will take a company with a lot of resources just to keep the info about the banks up-to-date url, features, etc. Some years ago Microsoft proposed a 1-way OFX that would help a developer a lot, and be cheaper for banks, but I doubt it's gone anywhere.
It's easier than ever to write a new personal finance app, desktop or online. But I wouldn't want to be involved in the rat's nest that is online banking.
I've used an excel spreadsheet to keep track of reconciling my accounts for the last 10 years or so. I've never had a problem, except that it's too big now to fit into Google Apps. I bought Money a couple of years ago, migrated my data, tried to live with it for a couple of months and quickly went back to Excel.
You don't get the automatic data feeds, but then I don't have so many transactions that this becomes a problem. I'm always on the lookout for a decent money management app that can really outdo my spreadsheet but I'm yet to find it.
I'm using Money , and haven't upgraded to anything more recent than that. I've been using Money since 95, too, and agree that Money 95 was way ahead of its time. None of the subsequent versions have been as revolutionary as that one was. As for switching to a completely-online solution I haven't used any online banking systems other than my credit union's, so I don't know what else is available, but I don't have the ability to forecast my account balances online the way I can in Money.
Sure, it's not always accurate unexpected bills always occur but it does give me a general feel for when I can buy that next Xbox game etc. Matt Hamilton. When I was forced to move bank due to poor service I choose a bank and credit card that has good Microsoft Money support.
Ian Ringrose. I've been struggling with Quicken for 4 weeks now. I was really just looking for something to track my checking spending and my savings accounts.
Quicken definitely seems to make that harder than it should be. And my online downloads of info fail half the time. Intuit's customer support has been extremely unhelpful in this regard. I'm thinking I might just stick with my bank's online accounting as well. Anyone know of a simple barebones app that allows you to import OFX files and also enter checks as you write them to balance your books? Mark Struzinski. I just wanted something simple, but a step up from Excel.
Jeff Sodeman. I've been using MoneyDance for a few months now. It's cross platform and seems to do everythign I need it to do. I use Money with a twist. I bought it on one of my visits to the United States and use it to manage my finances. It's even more painful for me because in India there is no online integration with banks, billers, etc. However, it is much better than not doing any financial management at all. Tally is a very popular software in India but it's not half as cool though double as functional as MS Money.
I don't have decades of data, so I can't speak from that perspective, and when I transition to a new system I tend to be satisfied with backing up my existing data and "starting fresh" with the new one. That said, my wife and I use the "envelopes" budgeting system where incoming money is divided up into portions that are targeted for specific or general uses.
It's a very good system for saving money, whether it's for paying for a periodic expense, or just saving in general. Most PFM's, it seems, like Quicken and Money Quicken was my drug of choice are more aligned with the methodology of managing your expenses after the fact as opposed to planning for them in the future, and we ended up hacking Quicken to get it to work the way we wanted - effectively screwing up all reports but one. After reviewing a lot of PFMs a lot I found Mvelopes , and it seemed to fit exactly what we wanted - with one problem: a monthly fee.
After trying it for a month, I was on board. One downside is that while you can import your historical data i. You can't interact with it via the main UI, you can just run reports on it. That's usually all people want to do though, I'd wager. I also like the "available anywhere" nature of online apps combined with the fact that backups are not my problem.
Of course I could be instantly screwed if something goes wrong - but that's just a chance I'm willing to take I guess. I switched back to Money about 6 months ago after several years of just Excel and am happy except for one small thing: The data that I've spent all this time getting into money and massaging to perfection is absolutely opaque from anywhere but money.
Why couldn't they have provided some kind of API so I could write some different reports, or automate some of the tedium? I know there are third party tools that allow you to export Money data to Excel, but they miss the mark by a long shot: there is a lot of cool data in there I can't access.
If there was some kind of way to integrate with Money, I'd be much happier with it. Chris Bilson. All my banking is online using my bank's web application.
I'm not a big fan of web applications No more Quicken for me although I still used TurboTax this year. Jason Bock. I've used Money religiously since , always entering transactions manually, never using the software to connect to my bank or download statements. I would have difficulty living without it. It's important for me to keep my own record of transactions and reconcile this with the bank's - in this way I can see that expected deposits have been made, for example. Using MS Money also enables me to get a consolidated picture of our financial situation across many disparate accounts, and see a holistic view of our investment portfolios.
Ian Nelson. I use Money , and refuse to upgrade, since new versions only add crap. It's small and simple, just what I need. I've long said that Microsoft Money and Microsoft PowerPoint are the two best and most underrated deskop applications on the market.
I upgrade Money every year more out of respect for the product team than anything else. I have twelve years of history I restarted from scratch with Money , for reasons I can no longer remember and it performs quickly on the PIII laptop in the kitchen. Scott, perhaps you have too much money , and that's why the performance is so appaling? I bought Money 2 days ago and I am already repenting it. Setting up accounts is a nightmare, something that I thought would take a minute or two took 3 hours and I am not yet done.
I tried to set up my credit card account and it told me that my online account with the card doesn't exist. I regret buying it, all it will lead to is more customer support calls and headaches and repeating the question again and again to different customer reps. I wish you could have blogged about this earlier. I have been using Quicken for years and I'm currently using Quicken I probably will not update until my version is no longer supported for downloading investment quotes.
I am quite happy with it but the purpose is tracking and reporting, not "banking" per se. I set most of my montly bills to be automatically deducted from my checking account so I do very little bill paying at all. The problem with all of the online tools is that they are for paying bills, not tracking and reporting on your finances.
Updating Quicken from my financial institution seems slow but the total time required is immaterial. It also has plenty of bugs but nothing that causes me to lose data so, whatever. It is the only way for me to see how we are spending money and how my investments are doing quickly so I'll stick with it. Been using Microsoft Money for at least all of the 21st century, maybe more. I liked version but had to upgrade to because it was the first to support the Bahamian dollar where I live.
The bank is using a decade-old version of the software of its parent company Royal Bank of Canada and doesn't support accessing accounts through financial software, or even downloading transactions directly into Microsoft Money.
They claim Quicken support but I have my doubts. What's worse is that I've also had to start using cheques again since moving here because they don't have a debit card system in place.
Which now means I actually need to reconcile more diligently also because they're prone to errors like depositing to the wrong account and screwing up exchange rates. But I'm a little confused about how you can just stop using it. Yes, you can reconcile each account manually but what about an overall view of all your accounts? I don't go overboard with the features but I do use Money to keep track of my investments' current prices and to see what I'm spending my money on which is more for fun; not like I change my spending habits after seeing what I bought in the past.
Issue purchasing Quicken Canada; form asks for Zip Code. Error CC with Citi. Unexpected Email or Text to verify info. Error Updating Capital One Accounts. Product Version. There are four steps in this process Learn about the conversion process. If you have an older version of Microsoft Money, you will need to upgrade.
Your Microsoft Money software must be installed on the same computer as Quicken. The version of the data file you plan to import must match the version of Microsoft Money you have installed. For example, to import a Money file, you must have Money installed, and to import a Money file, you must have Money installed.
If you are in the process of reconciling your accounts in Microsoft Money, we recommend that you finish reconciling before importing because Quicken won't know where you are in the process if you import mid-stream. Money should not be running during the import process.
Please exit the program before starting. Create a new Quicken data file. Your Quicken data file must be empty in order for the import to work properly. After you have imported your Microsoft Money file, we suggest you read the article After importing your Money File into Quicken. Best cameras and lenses. All forums PC Talk Change forum. Started Mar 2, Discussions thread.
I'd say they fill roughly the same niche Some observations: Set-up is easier in Money. Either one is better than doing it on paper! Glen Barrington's gear list: Glen Barrington's gear list. Reply Reply with quote Reply to thread Complain. Re: Microsoft Money vs Quicken. Roy Eglinton. Glen Barrington. I would not spend extra for the "deluxe" or "premier" versions. Ray Thompson. OT - MS Money. Re: OT - thanks geopappas nt. Re: Quicken expiring soon. Darrell Turner. Quicken UK Jamie 'Milo' Whitehorn.
Tony Kindred. Adarian Money. John Lai. Forum Parent First Previous Next. Color scheme? Latest sample galleries. Canon EOS R3 sample gallery. If you're already switching personal finance software, you could switch to an online program. With online software, you never have to install anything on your hard drive or wait for updates.
Online financial software is generally just as secure as your bank's online banking website and uses data encryption and other methods to keep data safe. Here some online software alternatives:. If you can do without automatic transaction downloads and a few other features that require internet access, Microsoft Money Plus Sunset Deluxe is still an option.
Although it doesn't have all the features that you enjoyed in Money, Sunset Deluxe is free. There's no Mac version, so those users will have to choose a different alternative. Many replacing Microsoft Money first turn to Quicken.
It is very robust personal finance software and it works well. Before you switch, consider that you might not be able to successfully import your old Money data. In fact, Quicken strongly recommends against the process. However, it does offer a money-back guarantee, so if you decide it won't work for you, you'll need to request a refund within 30 days of purchase.
You will have a slight learning curve when navigating any new personal finance software that replaces Microsoft Money. Some aspects of the new personal finance software will be easy to use for former Microsoft Money users, but be patient as you learn how to get around in the software.
Remember to use the Help menu in the new software to learn how to use features that work a bit differently than in Microsoft Money.
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