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[Don Corleone]

About once a year, Mrs. Corleone and I get religion about getting our finances squared, understand where every penny is going, and start meeting some savings goals. I've got a copy of Microsoft Money 2004. If this go-round is anything like the past couple, we'll use it for about 2 weeks, then slowly taper off and we'll be back to just recording bills, not actually balancing our checkbook, budgeting, and meeting savings goals. So, I'm loathe to spend the money to upgrade. But has anyone got any recommendations on past or present finanial software? Were older versions better, or are the current ones doing things that are valuable? And where do people stand on the Money question? Your insights would be most appreciated.

[Odin]

Quicken is a fine product Don. Essentially it offers the same thing as Microsoft money. There really isnt a whole lot of difference between 04-08 versions dependent on how deep you want to go.

If you want to start tracking investments in your fidelity account (as an example) and have that data downloaded, or pay bills online the current versions of those softwares make it a fairly simple affair. The newer versions also make it simple to download your bank statement and reconcile the statement to your check book, as well as eliminating some data entry.

The biggest asset to the newer versions are the ability to download and track credit card spending. Most CC companies now provide catagories for expense incurred in the statement period, again a nice data entry savings and catagorizing feature.

If you need to do a budget and get some reports on what your spending where and when, the version you have should suffice no need to upgrade, however most of the input will be manual.

[Don Corleone]

Then I'll probably stick with what I have. Thanks for the advice. We're really good at staying at net-zero month to month. We don't run up the credit cards, we're pretty good at buckling down when we have to. But we both find ourselves scratching our heads as to why we have to, and we'd really like to be setup so that we're actually putting money away each month (beyond the 401K deductions and the like, which really don't count, as I always live as though my available paycheck is my paycheck).

As for automatically entering transactions, I don't like that anyway. In the past 3 months, I've had 2 unauthorized charges (AtHomeRewards.com is trying to take $16.95 a month, just for having a cute name apparently, as I have no idea who they are; and some weird company with a crazy name in Bergen deducted 94 bucks on a checking account I don't use anymore). I'm disputing both. But if I had the program auto-enter those transactions, it would have just processed them and auto-reconciled my checkbook and I would have been none the wiser.

I like manually entering transactions, for the reason I mentioned, and also it forces you to pay attention to what you're spending. Clicking 'accept' on a downloaded transaction is just too easy.

[Odin]

Then I'll probably stick with what I have. Thanks for the advice. We're really good at staying at net-zero month to month. We don't run up the credit cards, we're pretty good at buckling down when we have to. But we both find ourselves scratching our heads as to why we have to, and we'd really like to be setup so that we're actually putting money away each month (beyond the 401K deductions and the like, which really don't count, as I always live as though my available paycheck is my paycheck).

I think sticking with what you have is sound, giving your initial post I think a committed effort to keep it updated will reveal its ample, and will certainly reveal shortcomings fast. I think the key component for you based on the info given is to get everything into the software and produce some reports as to where you are spending money.

You will be able to see trends (as historical data becomes available) and make appropriate tweeks. I advised a friend on a savings plan for a big ticket item, one of the things unique to him was he paid his winter fuel bills in full at that time, no extended plans. So he had to adjust his monthly savings to account for the spike in spending in the winter.

You have kids, and chances are in the spring as they age you will spend more on activities, sports, fundraisers all that. These trends are critical and any of these programs helps you track that, you just have to put the data in.

As for automatically entering transactions, I don't like that anyway. In the past 3 months, I've had 2 unauthorized charges (AtHomeRewards.com is trying to take $16.95 a month, just for having a cute name apparently, as I have no idea who they are; and some weird company with a crazy name in Bergen deducted 94 bucks on a checking account I don't use anymore). I'm disputing both. But if I had the program auto-enter those transactions, it would have just processed them and auto-reconciled my checkbook and I would have been none the wiser.

To each thier own as they say, I do a lot of stuff online but I review everything throughly, I am fortunate to have the time to do that. Based on your needs, and comfort level, save the 39.99 on a new software and just explore the one you have. Good luck.