Microsoft Money 2006
Canadian Edition
Microsoft Corporation
By Ian Hunt
SCUG Member
Product Pricing: $29.95 at Future Shop (rebate available from time to time).
Product Website: www.microsoft.com/canada/home/ Toll-free tech support 1-800-936-8479
Microsoft Money 2006 helps you stay on top of day to day finances by consolidating all your account information in one place. Keep an eye on your spending, create a budget, and manage bills. Spend less time worrying about your money and more time enjoying it.
Features
* All of your accounts in one place, with one password, make it a breeze to keep tabs on day-to-day spending.
* Money 2006 connects to thousands of banks and updates balances automatically.
* Improved Spending Tracker.
* Track Spending Categories: Dining Out, Entertainment, Clothing, etc.
* Batch Bill Pay: Send multiple bills from multiple accounts all at once.
* Money Bill Calendar: See upcoming and paid bills at a glance.
* Reports, Account Register, Budget.
* Investing Tips.
System Requirements
* Pentium II 300MHz recommended (or compatible)(or faster).
* Windows 98SE or later, Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 3 or later or Windows XP SP1 (SP2 recommended).
* Internet Explorer 6 with Service Pack 1 or later.
* 64 MB of RAM recommended, except Windows XP: where 128 MB of RAM recommended.
* 130MB of available hard-disk space plus 60 MB for Internet Explorer 6 with Service Pack 1 plus an additional 200 MB for installing product updates.
* 2X or faster CD ROM; SVGA graphics card or compatible video graphics adapter; SVGA colour monitor with a minimum of 256 colours capable of displaying 800 X 600 resolution;16-bit colour recommended.
* Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.
* 56-kbps modem.
* An Internet Service Provider.
* Internet features require you to sign on using your Microsoft Passport Network credentials.
Installing and Setting Up When I installed it, I was not connected to the internet and I had to repeatedly click on Retry to connect to MSN Money servers to check for software updates. Then I had to sign in to the Microsoft Passport Network. I already had an ID there due to my MSN Messenger/Hotmail account. Since you are going to be transmitting your financial information over the internet, a secure password is a must. While setting your Microsoft Passport Network password, included on the screen is a feature that indicates the strength or weakness of your password.
You can change the way your "Home Page" looks by adding items from your accounts list and items that Money 2006 has made available for you like Reminders, Best and Worst Performers, Important Dates, Investment Charts, Vehicle Expenses.
In Advisor, Important Dates, I had to change the date when Income Taxes are due from April 15 to April 30.
Other Important Dates were US only but can be edited or deleted. New items can be added.
Problem: Account was using US dollars and then converting to Canadian The software wanted to use US currency and I had to change it to Canadian - even though this is the Canadian version of the software. I had to input the currency exchange rate of Canadian Dollars in US funds. When I finished entering my account, the balance showed as US$. When I went to the website, I read the following: Quick tip: Make sure you set your settings to Canadian in Windows XP before installing Microsoft Money 2006, so the program recognizes Canadian banks, currency and more. Instructions were as follows:
* Go to Start > Control Panel.
* In Classic View, double-click Regional and Language Options.
* Click the Regional Options tab and go to Standards and formats > select English (Canada).
* Click Apply > OK. This did not work. I called the toll-free number for help. After about 20 minutes spent listening to MS music on the phone, I had good help.
Once an account is set up, right-click on the account name, choose "See Account Settings", scroll to the bottom under "Balance Information" and change Account currency to Canadian dollars. This did the trick.
Converting From Quicken If you have used Quicken (version 3.0 or later) to manage your financial information, you can use Money 2006's "Convert Quicken File" to convert the file to Money 2006's format. A Wizard will guide you through the process. Your original Quicken file remains intact. This works like a charm and is fast.
"Balance" in Money 2006 is the same as "Reconcile" in Quicken.
Using Money 2006 There is quite a learning curve for this program which will require an investment in time spent in online help.
The program operates like a browser with forward and reverse buttons for navigation. To start a new account, just go to the menu bar and select File, New, New Account.
A wizard will take you through the steps needed, such as account type, whether it is an online account or not, the name of the account and the opening balance.
This information can be changed later if desired. Entering information is simple. Just open the account by clicking on from the start page and select a new row to input the Cheque No. (if applicable) Date, Payee and Payment or Deposit Amount. In addition, you can specify the Category and Classification and add a Memo to the entry. While entering data into Payee column, the program will auto complete your text entry based on Payee already in the Payee list. All you have to do is tab to the next field when auto text has guessed the correct text.
You can track stock prices and look at past stock performance by going on line. This will produce a historical graph for the time period you select. On line prices are no older than 20 minutes.
Reports Reports come in two different configurations. * Essential Reports provide the simplified financial overviews most users need.
* Advanced Reports provide in-depth financial reporting and the ability to customize specific report details.
In order to view a report which looks at data older than last year, you must use Advanced Reports. Reports are generated based on the financial information you entered in your Money 2006 file and you can change the view to Bar Chart, Pie Chart or Text Report. Information can be exported to Excel for further analysis and can be sent to an email recipient.
Tools include Find and Replace, Calculator, Internet Updates, Customize Money Advice and Settings. Customize Money Advice allows you to have the program let you know when your account balances are to high or too low, when important dates are arriving for paying taxes, insurance, refinance your mortgage and so on, when investments have reached a specified price and information about the status of your frequent flyer program(s).
Pros
* The product price is not too bad.
* The program does everything it is supposed to do for the things I tried which were mainly bank accounts, stock quotes and credits cards.
* Customer support was excellent for the one time I used it and was toll-free. This free tech support is good for 2 years.
* Web Site Help was good and even has a user forum you can browse or join to ask questions.
Cons
* You can only download account data for 2 years.
* Has no Home Inventory section.
* You must go on-line to get help, an inconvenience if you use dial-up as it ties up your phone line.
* If you have never used personal financial software before, you will have to do a lot of reading in order to take advantage of the program.
* Although this is a Canadian version, you have to do some setting up to change some pre-sets from US to Canadian.
* Only one window is open at a time.
Do you need a program like this? Maybe not, but if you know where your money is going and what it is doing, you can have better control over it. If you decide to use this program or one like it, you have to be dedicated to using it. What you get out of it is proportional to what you put into it.

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