![Microsoft Money Premium 2005 [OLD VERSION]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515RCZVS7EL.jpg)
Category: (Software)
3 new, starting at $75.30
4 used, starting at $32.00
No brainer to No gainerReviewed by whozethere, 2005-09-04
At one time, it was desirable to upgrade prior versions of Money
for the free benefits included: 1 year of msn billpay, free tax
software, 1 year credit reporting, etc. It was a no brainer to
purchase the new version just for the perks.
The exec's must have felt like Money arrived and was ready to
compete head to head with Quicken. Prior users only get tax
software, limited msn billpay, etc. Financially there is no gain to
updating.
The software has trouble functioning and is slow to respond. One
prime example is matching transactions to what is already recorded.
The program moves slow to almost non-responsiveness and cannot keep
the visual on a high functioning computer when 1 selection is made
to match an item and 2 the correct transactions are linked. I
thought it might be the size of the file, so I archived some of my
information. (Another difficulty found, since the archive selection
isn't like Outlooks and you have to archive by duplicating files
manually and deleting item by item.) File size has nothing to do
with the poor program functioning at all.
If you are looking to upgrade, save your money and forget
continuing to upgrade annually. I could tell little difference
between 2004 and 2005. Reading 2006 reviews, 2005 users were
disappointed. Since it is now a no gainer, it would be best to wait
every 2-4 years now to upgrade unless you like investing in the
latest software. BTW, I have worked with both Deluxe and Premium
editions.
Maybe good for business but short for personalReviewed by Robert M. Gary, 2005-06-20
M.S. money seems to still be lacking easy of use for the home user.
Several lingering problems seem to holding on.
1) If you use Money to pay bills on line, you must provide a
category for the bill each and every time you pay it. Its not
enough to set up your mortgage and tell it that payee is for
mortgage, you must tell it each and every time you pay a
bill.
2) Paying multiple bills is tough. Even with 2005, its not much
better. You can select a group of payees to pay but you must click
on each one to actually pay them. Compare this to most bank web
interfaces where you can bring up a spreed sheet of payee, $$$
amount, and date to pay and set up every bill without clicking
away.
3) No expression langauge. It would be nice to say that any
checking account transaction that looks like *ATM* will
automatically be categorized as CASH. However, Money doesn't allow
that. Unless your transaction looks 100% the same each time (no
transaction number, etc) you must manually assign the category each
time.
4) Budget could be easier. It would be nice to say "make last money
my budget and I'll work from there". It doesn't do this.
5) No true user spending categories. When you create your own
spending category you must put it in one of the M.S. money
categories. When you run reports on budgets they are all relative
to these seeded categories, no the ones you created.
6) Putting categories on all your account transactions is just too
hard. It takes lots of keystrokes (alt-E, 5 tabs, type in category,
alt-S) to categorize your tranaction. At the end of the month when
you want to put a category on all your tranactions you downloaded,
this can take some time.
Best value for non-professionalsReviewed by Jeff Platt, 2005-06-15
As a practicing tax attorney, I'm frequently asked to recommend a software package for home users. This is without doubt the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and easy-to-use software for the layman. If you use a CPA or tax attorney, this program helps track and print all the needed documents. If you file by yourself (good luck), it is equally effective in tracking your overall assets. Recommended.
Not bad but buy a reference book for it.Reviewed by Erik Schenck, 2005-06-04
This is my frist try with personal finace software and so far its not bad. I would however recommened getting like a dummies guide to book of some sort with this software. It takes a lot of frustration out of setting it up. The users guide that comes with ths software isnt really a users guide, more like a book of advertisments for other products. The only other guide is in with the software through help and I found that equally as usless. So if you are willing to spend 50 - 70 bucks for this software go out and spend another 20 and get a book. It really helps. Other than that, that is my only complaint.
Not much of an upgradeReviewed by Paul Baker, 2005-04-26
My bank is one of the largest in my region, and this thing still cannot synchronize with a simple checking account. I'm glad I tried it out on my friend's computer before I purchased it. MS Money 2004 Premium isn't any better, but at least it's less money.
