Others say...

"piece of junk..."
updated to money 2006 from 2003. followed the instructions for the migration, and it lost 3 months of my financial records! there is no excuse for this, particularly in a product as mature as this. most of microsoft's products are superb, don't understand why they can't get their act together on this one.

the user interface is highly non-intuitive. it won't let automatic categorization of recurring debits. what kind of time-saver is this? and now, after upgrading to IE7, it won't accept my password. it complains there's no connection to the internet(there is, all other programs are working just fine). i wonder how much more of my time i will waste attempting to fix this one...

"How to enjoy Microsoft Money"
Here is what you must do to have a good experience with this product:

1. Never use Microsoft Passport.

Passport is a universal password that can be used to sign on to multiple bank accounts, brokerages, merchants, and God knows what else. It is a security disaster. Avoid it!

Your installation of Microsoft Money will be a bit awkward if you want to avoid Passport. Some users believe that Money won't install unless you get a Passport. This is false, at least for Money 2006 and earlier versions. You just have to be careful (and resolute!) while you install. See also item 6. below.

2. Never store your financial data online with Microsoft

MS Money allows you to keep all your financial data stored on Microsoft's computers, as well as on your home computer. This allows you to access your MS Money data when you are away from your computer. For the unlucky user, it leads to virtually insoluble computer nightmares. Apparently, the local and remote copies of your data can get out of sync. It becomes difficult or impossible to overcome data corruption on Microsoft's computers. You fix up your local data, and it gets scrambled again when you connect to Microsoft's computers.

If you observe 1. above, you will not have to worry about 2.

3. Never use Yodlee to download account information from financial institutions

Yodlee (spit) is a company/method for downloading your account information from banks, credit card issuers, brokerages, etc. The way it works is that it impersonates a web browser and surfs your bank's (or brokerage's or ...) web site in order to suck in your account details.

The problem is that your bank's web site is designed for browsing by humans, not software. Small design changes to your bank's web site can cause Yodlee to scramble the data. Frustrating for you.

Many (but not all) financial institutions will download your account transactions directly into MS Money without the use of Yodlee. Yodlee gives you access to a larger collection of financial institutions. But it is not worth it.

If you observe 1. above, then you will not have to worry about Yodlee.

4. Keep several backup Money files

Microsoft Money stores all of your financial data in a single disk file on your computer. This is convenient for you. Money also allows you to store several backup copies of this disk file. I suggest that you configure Money to store 4 (depending on how paranoid you are) backup copies. What this means (for example) is that if you work with Money one time on each of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, then you will get a total of 5 copies of the file that holds your financial data. The oldest (backup) copy will reflect the state of your MS Money data from Monday. The newest (not a backup) will reflect the state of your MS Money data from Friday.

Why do this? Because like all Microsoft products, Money will occasionally scramble up your data. If you are not able to unscramble (there is a "repair" feature that you can try) then your only hope is to revert to an older copy of your data, and kiss your most recent updates goodbye.

You might not discover the corruption right away. That's why I suggest keeping multiple backups.

5. Back up your computer disk

This suggestion is not specific to Microsoft Money. But I feel obliged to mention this anyway. The more you use MS Money, the more you have to lose if your computer malfunctions. You can lose disk data due to a worn out disk drive, or an electronic failure in the computer itself. Your computer can suffer from fire, flooding, or theft. Your data can disappear from simple mistakes by users, or by the children of users!

So you have to back up your disk data. Most home computer users don't bother. But this bears repeating: the more you use an accounting program like Microsoft Money, the more you need to back up. Get to it!

6. Purchase the normal, CD-ROM version of Money, rather than the downloaded (electronic only) version.

WARNING: unconfirmed by my personal experience. Amazon.com sells this software product in a box containing a CD-ROM and some sketchy paper documentation. You can also download the software directly from Microsoft. But I have been told that the direct purchase from Microsoft requires the use of Passport. As I state in 1. above, I believe that Passport is a bad idea. So it is probably wise to purchase the physical, CD-ROM version from Amazon.com.

7. Find a community of knowledgable users

Like all mass market software, the technical support available for this product is useless. You should find a discussion forum for users of Microsoft Money. This is where you will go for help with problems that you cannot solve by yourself. I suggest that you read through the forum posts even when you don't have a Money problem. Look for major problems that might affect you. Forewarned, you might be able to avoid such problems.

Personally, I use the usenet news group microsoft.public.money. It can be found through microsoft.com or groups.google.com. Generally speaking, the intelligence level in this ng is solidly mediocre. That's in the nature of the Microsoft user community. If you find a better forum, please write an Amazon.com "review" of your own and share it.

Good luck with Microsoft Money!

"Micrsoft money review"
The product is excellent. It is much more user friendly than earlier versions.


"Product needs work"
I have been using Microsoft Money I think as earlier as version 95. I upgraded from 2002, which I liked very much, to 2006 which I'm not too impressed with. The interface gets prettier with each release but at the same time gets more complicated to use. My Money file got corrupted after about one month of use and that really turned me off to this product. I tried switching to Quicken at one point but that was even worse. I guess for now I'm stuck with MS Money until something better comes along.

"Stay away!! A total waste of time and money"
I am a long time Money user, all the way back to '99. I've always preferred it over Quicken because I found it more intuitive, powerful, and easier to use all at the same time.

I have noticed that over the various incarnations of the software, more and more links back to Microsoft and other advertisting "partners" (read: embedded spam) have been popping up (and under) in the program.

With 2006, however, they didn't just massively increase the number of advertisements and links, but they now REQUIRE that you use the Money online services (i.e. sign up for a "Passport" account) to connect to online institutions.

American Express provides my monthly statement data for download. Why should I be forced to sign up for a Passport account when, in previous versions, Money just connected directly to the financial institution?

The big problem with being forced to sign up is right in their privacy policy:

"...if you choose to use some of the Internet-based services, you may submit sign-in credentials and/or financial data, consisting of some or all of the content of your Money file."

Are you KIDDING ME!? Now that just sucks. By signing up with Passport, I'm allowing Microsoft access to ALL my PRIVATE financial data.

Now you might think that an upstanding, honest, and honorable corporation like Microsoft would take every effort to keep the data private, right? Let's take a look at the next paragraph of the privacy policy:

"Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Statement, personal information you provide to Microsoft via the Microsoft Money 2006 product will not be shared outside of Microsoft and its controlled subsidiaries and affiliates without your permission."

Do you have any idea how many "subsidiaries and affiliates" Microsoft has? That's just a horrible, insecure, evil and counter-productive thing to do.

Privacy concerns aside, the other major problem with the new 2006 version is the interface. In a clear effort to merge the "online" part of the program with the "personal" part, they converted everything to web pages, and you basically browse your own computer for your personal data, and then seamelessly browse the online pages for advertising.

Now many of my right-click features, window position saves, and other minor little features are gone, and it makes the program feel "kludgy" and slow.

So, with no new or improved features I can find to dissuade me; the addition of a clunky, slow, all-web based interface; and the threat of even further reduced privacy; I'm throwing my copy of 2006 in the trash, and going back to 2004.