Microsoft Money Plus for Personal Finances
and Money Management
Mike
Simons reviewed Microsoft Money Plus Deluxe, version 17.0, specifically for a computer with a Microsoft XP Professional operating system.
He shared why he likes and uses this personal finances and money
management software program.
Note: This product is no longer available for sale.
In a nutshell, I have found this program ideal for
anyone who wants to manage money and personal finances in the least
amount of time possible.
Like many software programs, this one has
section "tabs": home page, banking, bills, reports, budget, planning
and taxes. I will cover each of these in depth.
Microsoft Money Plus: Review of the Home
Page
- This page is customizable
with
whatever content you need to see.
- It is easy to eliminate
extraneous
information that isn't pertinent for your specific home and
budget situation.
- The links
at the top and side of
the page allow me to get where I need to go really fast, at the click
of a mouse.
- The toolbar
at the top of the
page can be customized with accounts that I regularly use.
- By setting up and using my "Favorite
Accounts" window, I can get a really fast snapshot of all of
our accounts without having to go to each account page individually.

Microsoft Money Plus: Review of the
Banking Tab
- I can easily add a
new account
with the click of a link.
- I can sort our
accounts by what's
relevant for my own needs.
- After having set up electronic
accounts correctly, I
can download account information with no more
than
two clicks of a mouse via "Update Now."
- It's very easy to remove
inactive accounts
that I no longer want to see.
- I can see our total
accounts balances
at the bottom of the screen.
- Account names
are easy to
customize.

Microsoft Money Plus: Review of the Bills
Tab
- I can keep track of
bills that
need to be paid regularly with the bills summary ledger.
- As I pay a bill,
it is
automatically added to the correct account that I've designated for
that expense.
- The bills summary
can be
customized with the following options:
- to pay online,
- who the payee is,
- the amount,
- the due date,
- the frequency of payment,
- the payment method, and
- when that bill was last
paid.
- There are other
tasks
links that
I can use if needed.

Microsoft Money Plus: Review of the
Reports Tab
- There are many reports
available
to enable and empower you to see and understand your current financial
situation. Some of these include the following:
- Net worth;
- Credit card debt; and
- Income and expenses by
category, payee, accounts,
income and spending, annual budget, taxes, and investments.
- A favorite feature of mine
allows me to customize
and view accounts and import information into Microsoft
Excel, which gives us the ability to transfer information into a
spreadsheet to ensure that we stay on track for the current month.

Microsoft Money Plus: Review of the Budget
Tab
- This tab enables you to keep
track of
expenses and income based on what has been entered in the
various registers. There was a time when we used this feature but we
have found that using a spreadsheet is easier.
- For those individuals needing
help and discipline to
see where overages in various accounts occur most commonly and are
willing to use it honestly, this feature will enable you to decide
where to allocate extra funds toward a pet project or item.

Microsoft Money Plus: Review of the
Planning Tab
- Although I have not used these
features, Microsoft
Money Plus helps you in understanding and planning
for retirement, savings, college for those who may have younger
children still at home, insurance, as well as creating a lifetime
planner.
- The lifetime planner enables
you to create
a comprehensive plan for your financial future, making sure
that you can accomplish your financial goals (such as buying a house,
paying for your children's education, and ensuring a secure
retirement).
- A debt reduction
planner may also
be very helpful in taking control in just four easy steps so that your
hard-earned money doesn't go towards interest payments that will never
benefit you or your family!
- There is also a link to using
the lifetime
planner to working with a financial professional.

Microsoft Money Plus: Review of the Taxes
Tab
- This link will take you to the
MS Money Tax Center so
you can view and receive helpful advice.
- The built-in browser
feature
enables you to view information without needing to open another browser
window.
- You can also get information on
finding
legitimate deductions as well as estimates on whether or not
you'll be receiving a refund for the next tax year.

Microsoft Money Plus: Pros and Cons
These are many wonderful
features that I have at my fingertips if I choose to use them. There
are a few that I really like to use, so those are what I spend time
using regularly. Account setup is very easy to do, which I have found
takes five minutes or less to get going.
A nice feature that saves me time is the download
feature of account information. When I come home for the weekend, it
takes me less than five minutes to handle all the
financial details that have been added to our accounts during the last
week. This is especially nice for financial investments of stocks,
bonds, money market accounts, and the like.
Account balancing takes me
less
than five minutes total to do each month. It's important to balance
to the penny, so that's what we do. If there's a problem,
Money alerts me to this and helps me find out where the problem exists.
One disadvantage that Microsoft Money Plus has relates
to enhanced
security. We have one bank account that has our UserID on one page, but
we have to enter our password on the second page in order to gain
access to the actual account center. However, this is a minor
inconvenience to us as we are able to download directly into Money, and
transactions go directly to that account.
Another disadvantage to Microsoft Money Plus can be the
information overload. There are so many links and forms available that
you can almost drown. However, they are there if you choose to use
them. The important thing to remember is that it is up to you to take
control of your financial future and to know where you stand, if you
will be honest in setting up accounts and common categories. If you
don't find something that you like, you can make one. We have
customized our financial data to meet our needs.
The learning curve can seem a little daunting, but once
you start working with the program a little at a time, it's quite
freeing! If a family can spend a little time working together, your net
worth can grow and debt freedom can become a reality. I used Quicken
many years ago but have become accustomed to Microsoft Money Plus. Even
if we have to pay for upgrades every 2-3 years, it's worth the small
extra cost to me (about $30). Why? Because I can save time and use that
for something else more important. The key is that you find and use
desktop financial software that works for you.
Note:
Since this page was written, Microsoft Money announced that it was no
longer going to service online updates. Personally, we have now started
using a different personal financial software program.
Money saving tip:
To
save money
on software that may not be right for you, look for a place where you
can download and use the personal finances software on a trial period
basis.
Return from Microsoft Money Plus for Personal Finances and Money Management to our Budgeting page or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.