Thanks crypto.

It must be that. I would say it is mental bankruptcy of Microsoft to do this and not post this as one of the FAQ on their website. Their website does not say a thing about this issue+

thinvalet said:I'm not sure if somebody has already made this recommendation, but I personally really like AceMoney. AceMoney

And the advantages to using AceMoney are ?????

I am starting using money 2005. And have several problems:
- Synchronization with bank accounts fails more then often. Balance is syncrhonized, but not transactions. I tried to load account statement using QIF format - once it worked but not a second time.
- I have some dummy operations like Account transfers. I move funds between different accounts to logically split my money. But these operations are shown in some reports that could not be customized by category. The same with credit card payments. I don't want to see my credit card payments because it actually it is not a real spending (spending was done one I used credit card to pay for something)

Actually I am thinking to try Quicken of MoneyDance. But it seems that quicken does not offer trial version.

stas said:Also problem with money. Once you load list of your transaction from the financial institution. It try to reconile debit and credit...I believe this might be related to an option you check when setting up the account initially. Money asks something along the lines of (sorry, but I'm at work and don't have the software at hand) do you want to keep track of all transaction activity or just track balances. My hunch is that the automatic activity you are seeing is some setting such as that you have selected. I don't have any such issue with downloaded transactions and automatic reconciling.

I'll try to logon later from home and help you out if you still have trouble.

-z

stas said:What I really don't need that Money reconciles my account (it should think the number that is sent from the bank is correct).I tend to disagree with your premise, since I've often found discrepancies between my records and those of my financial institutions. I would never accept bank transactions automatically.

My hunch is that you want to turn on the option to "automatically accept all downloaded transactions".

-z

After reading this thread and many others...

STAY AWAY from Quicken 2005 and Money 2005

Both were good products at one time and are now over developed and over engineered. It is time for a new product from a new manufacturer to hit the streets...

Microsoft Money 2005 Deluxe is working good for me. I have not figured out how to have it take the download from my bank for my checking account and put those into groups so it can track my spending automatically yet.

noksagt said:XFreebie said:(no excel import support) although i shouldnt be surprised since they are enemiesI think it is more likely that the reason for this is that Excel is spreadsheet software, which is sufficiently different from personal finance software such that there would be little demand for this feature. Still, transforming a CSV file into OFX of QIF isn't impossible.

It's also very easy to export to Excel (Quicken advertises this with version 2005 but it was just as easy in previous versions). So, the "enemy" theory doesn't hold water.

There are certain features of each product that I like ... I wish someone would take the best features of both and roll them into a new product.

One feature I would like to see money management software such as Quicken and Money offer is envelope budgeting. There are envelope budgeting programs out there, but I haven't found one that I like enough to pay for. Mvelopes is ok, but it's much too slow and the price is too high.

Anyone ever used Principal Plan envelope budgeting software? You can track accounts (checking, savings, credit cards, loans, etc.) as well as setting up an envelope budgeting plan. Here is the link.

parrotthead said:After reading this thread and many others...

STAY AWAY from Quicken 2005 and Money 2005

Both were good products at one time and are now over developed and over engineered. It is time for a new product from a new manufacturer to hit the streets...

I've used prior versions of both and I now prefer using my own set up spreadsheets for keeping track of my finances. I prefer being able to make changes and updates to the funtionality and I don't like using a software which is loaded with features I don't use. I'm also skeptical of any links to/from accounts to software, so I have no use for that part anyway.