Anyone else use MS Money?

[TallBill]

Tried loading in my past 3 months of credit card and checking account (same bank) statements and it got a little borked up on balances, mostly because my bank changed its tracking methods about a month ago.

So I'm starting fresh importing my transactions starting now. The categories/tracking looks very helpful. I can already see how much money I blow. Mostly on snack food while I'm working.

And the budgeting system looks pretty badass too. I definitely like to see money coming in vs money going out.

Looks like after it gets a few months of data, it'll start really getting dead on.

 

[sonoma1993]

if you let microsoft money download your account updates from your bank site, it'll screw it up. I did it one day. when id had it done manually, my account was around $1000 but after money got done with it, it said Id had $2000+ in my checking accout. Best way to update and double check to make sure your microsoft money entries are right is just to print out the ones from your accounts.

 

[Minjin]

I only use Money for two things: daily checking of all my account balances (and investments) and tracking of my Net Worth over Time.

I've never had a problem with Money making a mistake downloading files. And I've even gotten to the point where I check to see if Money supports a bank before opening an account there. Just can't beat the convenience...

Mark

 

[tw1164]

I've been using MS Money for about 4 years now (get the FAR copy around tax time), and I haven't had a problem w/ the online updates. I do have trouble with some of the fields becuase my bank has it messed up alittle. I just keep my receipts until I get the update from the bank, then you can match it up better.

 

[YoshiSato]

I use MS Money(I have 2006 SBE) I've used money since 2002. I never allow money to download the statements from my Online Bank Accounts. Nothing but problems balances would get screwed up, along with account transfers and posting dates and my budget.

I just balance money towards my online statements like you do with the old style check books(although it's much eaiser and faster)

 

[TallBill]

Just found the home inventory section today. Gotta start taking pictures, writing serials. Would be interesting to see if I should raise renters insurance.

 

[PowerEngineer]

WOW! :Q

I can't believe that anyone uses Money without letting it directly download banking transactions. Once you get an account set up properly (i.e. setting the right starting balance for the transactions initially downloaded from the bank), the automatic downloads are a great time saver. I let my monthly bank statements pile up in a drawer without even opening them.

It'd be like not using on-line bill paying... Please tell me you use on-line bill paying!

 

[YoshiSato]

Originally posted by: PowerEngineer
WOW! :Q

I can't believe that anyone uses Money without letting it directly download banking transactions. Once you get an account set up properly (i.e. setting the right starting balance for the transactions initially downloaded from the bank), the automatic downloads are a great time saver. I let my monthly bank statements pile up in a drawer without even opening them.

It'd be like not using on-line bill paying... Please tell me you use on-line bill paying!

Yeah I use online bill pay. I go to the web site of my cable company and student loan company and pay my bills. Netflix is taken out automatically.

 

[njmodi]

Originally posted by: PowerEngineer
WOW! :Q

I can't believe that anyone uses Money without letting it directly download banking transactions. Once you get an account set up properly (i.e. setting the right starting balance for the transactions initially downloaded from the bank), the automatic downloads are a great time saver. I let my monthly bank statements pile up in a drawer without even opening them.

It'd be like not using on-line bill paying... Please tell me you use on-line bill paying!

The reason you should consolidate the paper statement with what you manually enter in Money is that's the best way to make sure there are no unauthorized transactions, cash withdrawals etc. on your accounts. If you blindly download every transaction into your Money register onilne and never look through each entry, you have no idea if the transactions are accurate or not.

 

[YoshiSato]

Originally posted by: njmodi

Originally posted by: PowerEngineer
WOW! :Q

I can't believe that anyone uses Money without letting it directly download banking transactions. Once you get an account set up properly (i.e. setting the right starting balance for the transactions initially downloaded from the bank), the automatic downloads are a great time saver. I let my monthly bank statements pile up in a drawer without even opening them.

It'd be like not using on-line bill paying... Please tell me you use on-line bill paying!

The reason you should consolidate the paper statement with what you manually enter in Money is that's the best way to make sure there are no unauthorized transactions, cash withdrawals etc. on your accounts. If you blindly download every transaction into your Money register onilne and never look through each entry, you have no idea if the transactions are accurate or not.

Exactly.

 

[imported_kethdredd]

I manually enter all my transactions into Money and then download them to verify. The only problem I have is with online bill paying with Wachovia. For some reason it will download 2 transactions for every bill I pay. forcing me to delete one of them. Does anyone else have this problem?

 

[YoshiSato]

Originally posted by: kethdredd
I manually enter all my transactions into Money and then download them to verify. The only problem I have is with online bill paying with Wachovia. For some reason it will download 2 transactions for every bill I pay. forcing me to delete one of them. Does anyone else have this problem?

Yes. This is why I do not download the online stuff into Money.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Originally posted by: njmodi
[The reason you should consolidate the paper statement with what you manually enter in Money is that's the best way to make sure there are no unauthorized transactions, cash withdrawals etc. on your accounts. If you blindly download every transaction into your Money register onilne and never look through each entry, you have no idea if the transactions are accurate or not.

Who said anything about blindly? After downloading you need to "accept" every individual transaction, which is trival for on-line bill pay and quickly checked against my checkbook record for the rest. Typing the transactions in yourself does nothing to improve your banking security over checking the transactions downloaded from the bank.