Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

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CABob
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Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by CABob »

I have been using MS Money for a number of years for checking and savings accounts including bill paying. A few years ago my bank stopped interfacing with Money for bill paying and Microsoft stopped supporting Money. I started to use my banks online bill paying service but continued to use Money for keeping bank balances and check registers done manually. Now I have changed and upgraded computers (I still liked Windows 98 but progress must be recognized) and I am wondering how I can continue to use something like MS Money. I have learned of MS Money Plus Sunset and understand that it is available from Microsoft at no cost.
I am hoping that someone here has had some experience with the product and can pass on some information and comment.
1. Am I correct that it is free and works similar to the old MS Money?
2. Can Money files be transferred to Plus without a problem? Transfer would probably be made with a memory stick.
3. Anything positive or negative regarding Plus that I should be aware of?
4. I don’t anticipate using the application for investments, only for banking and savings accounts.
5. The application would be installed on a new Win 8.1 computer and old files transferred from my old computer.
I appreciate any and all feedback.
Bob
livesoft
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by livesoft »

I am using the MS Money Sunset on a Windows 7 laptop that does nothing else. Before that I used a supported MS Money.

1. Yes.

2. I am not sure anymore as I had MS Money Sunset on a couple machines. I think the answer though is no because of the way some ticker symbols got messed up. I think the bank account transactions were transferred OK though.

3. I am using it mostly for investments and like the performance calculations / reports for any dates, any accounts, any investments. I don't do much with the bank account except make sure the balance is the same as my bank shows.

4. Investments are the best part of MS Money.

5. I have not used Windows 8.
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rob
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by rob »

I still use Money 2002 (premium or whatever it's called) - don't mock me :oops:

It still works apart from the downloading of prices stopped working - this was the last version that did not have the time bomb built in from the start, so it just kept plugging away. I never paid bills from it, so that prob stopped as well long ago. It installs and runs fine on Win 8. Maybe your old version is an option.

I have looked at the other offerings a couple of times; Quicken, MoneyDance etc. and don't like any of them :( Your post reminds me that I should download the sunset version and use it instead of 2002.
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BigFoot48
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by BigFoot48 »

I use it on Win7 and 8. I grabbed it soon after it was made available and it read my existing MM files just fine. I mainly use it for tracking recurring bills, income and expenses, and providing tax and expense reports. I use Pocketsense Updater to price my mutual funds monthly, but don't really use it to evaluate performance. I never used the account download feature so not having that is not an issue. I'm likely to use it for the next 20 years unless Windows 15 breaks it.
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Browser
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by Browser »

Have used Money Sunset for years and works just like Money. I always downloaded my financial data myself by going to the websites so nothing really changed for me. You should be able to just download and install it and it can read your existing Money file (make sure you have a backup). I use it to keep track of my credit card and bank accounts, and categorize my expenses for budget purposes. Works great. I'd love to be able to move to using a Chromebook computer but the hangup is being able to download and handle my data as well as Money does it. Mint is a non-starter for me. I don't want to turn my passwords over to those guys to download my financial data. Prefer doing the download myself and then importing it into Money.
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Rob5TCP
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by Rob5TCP »

I have used the sunset edition since I gave up using Quicken (awful for an investment portfolio).
I've been with MS Money for many years when they discontinued support and mistakenly switched to Quicken.
After 3 months I went back to the MS Money and found the newer sunset edition. While it doesn't download,
it takes me less than 2 minutes a week to enter current prices (I have all stocks/funds in Morningstar).

I wish they had improved it and kept supporting it. Quicken (IMHO) is a horrible substitute.
Alan S.
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by Alan S. »

It is very irritating how Microsoft deals with sunset issues in general. MSFT money was methodically disabled over the years.

They also recently nuked their portfolio manager in MSN money and the export of data to their replacement program failed. This happened well prior to the final date they gave for export. No explanation, no help whatsoever.

They appear to have assigned a very low priority for continuing to be active in money related software programs.

Can you picture them releasing a tax program??? :annoyed
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BigFoot48
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by BigFoot48 »

Here's the PocketSense script website that allows downloading of on-line data (some, at least) into Microsoft Money Sunset. I see it was last updated in September so it's still being actively maintained. https://sites.google.com/site/pocketsen ... moneyfixp1

Hmm, I didn't find it in the Wiki. I may have to add it when I have some time.
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by Small Change »

Alan S. wrote:Can you picture them [Microsoft] releasing a tax program??? :annoyed
It almost happened 20 years ago.

Intuit bought TurboTax in 1993.

Microsoft then struck a deal to acquire Intuit (Quicken, TurboTax) in 1994, with a side deal to offload Microsoft Money to software firm Novell to gain regulatory approval.

The Justice Department sued to stop the Microsoft/Intuit deal in April 1995. http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/press ... 5/0183.htm.

Microsoft called off the Intuit deal in May 1995.
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CABob
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by CABob »

Thanks all for your replies. It looks like Money Plus is what I need.
Bob
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by Leeraar »

Skating where the puck was?

We have one checking account and one main credit card. I use the credit card for every transaction I can. Failing that, I use the debit card associated with the checking account. All regular income is auto-deposited in the checking account.

The credit card is on auto-pay for the full monthly balance from the checking account.

As many of my recurring bills as possible are on auto-pay from the credit card (I get a grace period and the cash back). The rest of them are on auto-pay from the checking account.

I monitor the checking account balance monthly online to check on cash flow, and for more detail I look online at the credit card statement and transactions. There is no reason for me personally to maintain any record of my transactions.

In the last year we wrote ten checks, two for property taxes, one for transferring plates on a car, and the rest for gifts or neighborhood fundraising events.

L.
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Phineas J. Whoopee
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by Phineas J. Whoopee »

CABob wrote:...I have learned of MS Money Plus Sunset and understand that it is available from Microsoft at no cost.
I am hoping that someone here has had some experience with the product and can pass on some information and comment.
I've been using MS Money since the 1990s.
CABob wrote:1. Am I correct that it is free and works similar to the old MS Money?
Yes that it's free. No, it no longer supports automatic downloads. Whether the latter is a dealbreaker depends on the user. Other than that it's pretty much the same.
CABob wrote:2. Can Money files be transferred to Plus without a problem? Transfer would probably be made with a memory stick.
I certainly had no problem. I also tried migrating to Quicken, Money Dance, and two others I don't specifically remember, to stay with supported software. I failed. I didn't naively fail. I sophisticatedly failed. I came to the point where none of them reported any file import errors at all. It also was a point where all thoroughly misrepresented my financial position. For Quicken I had to pay, but used their money-back system, which they were especially promoting in the immediate post-MS-Money weeks.

Memory stick or printed binary equivalent typed back in should make no difference. :wink:
CABob wrote:3. Anything positive or negative regarding Plus that I should be aware of?
It works good for me, but, y'know, I'm used to it.
CABob wrote:4. I don’t anticipate using the application for investments, only for banking and savings accounts.
It works great for that, but if I were starting out today, rather than trying to preserve my personal finance history since 1991, I'd probably choose something else. I'm not, so I'm not, so I can't give specific advice in that arena.
CABob wrote:5. The application would be installed on a new Win 8.1 computer and old files transferred from my old computer.
I'm running it on 8.1 now.
CABob wrote:I appreciate any and all feedback.
Hope mine is more helpful than aggravating.

PJW
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CABob
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Re: Microsoft Money Plus Sunset

Post by CABob »

Thanks, PJW,
Your reply and experience is helpful.
I haven't had the pleasure of downloads using Money for some time so that is not a new issue.
As I indicated my primary usage is for a manual record of bank account transactions.
I have had and I guess will continue to have an issue with record keeping on those accounts where I actually write checks and also do some transactions through the bank's website.
Bob
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