MSN Money Plus service ended

As mentioned in my earlier posting (The end of MSN Money Plus), the MSN Money plus service has now terminated. The service ended yesterday on the 28th June.

There is still the MSN Money service, which appears support accounts, so this could be a replacement - see https://moneycentral.msn.com/my/default.asp?SSL=1 (You'll need to use a Microsoft Passport to login).

In MSN Explorer, the service has also been updated to be identical to the MSN Money experience on Internet Explorer. Moneycentral provided the following information to enable the servce to work:

To verify that you have the latest version of MSN Explorer:

• In MSN Explorer, click Help and Settings
• Click About MSN
• Click the More Info button
• Scroll to the top of the page and verify that you have at least version 9.20.0029.3000

What-ifs and lifetime events modeller

I've recently rediscovered the "what if" scenario tool in MS Money. I've known about it for a while, but never really had the need to use them.

I've added a couple of articles to the site to show what they do:

• Article 410: Cash flow scenarios or "What-ifs"
• Article 411: Lifetime events modeler

I had cause to use the tools today, to try out some scenarios which may affect me in the next months and a couple in the next few years. It's quite illuminating. The cash flow what-if scenario tool is of more immediate use to me, as I use the cash flow extensively in my day to day use of Microsoft Money.

The lifetime events modeller is the longer term planning tool for Money. It's a little more difficult to place oneself in the longer term view - as it can only be a rough guide to the future. I use that tool mainly for making sure the future looks bright, and I'll have enough money for University fees in the future for my son.

Both of these tools are found easily in the program (see the articles). They're definitely something you need to keep in the back of your mind when using the program for planning purposes.

Recent site updates (FAQ Articles)

Since I last wrote to this site with the latest FAQ article, I've added a few more. These are as follows:

• Exporting and Importing a loan account (FAQ Article 402)
• Running Microsoft Money in Vista (FAQ Article 403)
• Changing sounds in Microsoft Money (FAQ Article 404)
• Microsoft Money Processes and Executables (FAQ Article 407)

With the imminent release of MSMoney 2007, I'll be creating a couple of new articles relating to that product shortly, when I can get my hands on a release copy.

Top of the flops - Microsoft Money in position 5?

Mary Jane Foley writes

If antitrust fears hadn't put the kibosh on Microsoft's plans to buy Intuit back in 1995, Microsoft might have been able to buy Quicken and turn its online banking product into a market leader. Instead, the Redmondians had to plod along with Microsoft Money, which seems to garner more wrath than praise from its users.

I'd agree with the appearance that Microsoft Money gets more wrath than praise, especially in the newsgroups - after all, they're for peer to peer support, so it would, wouldn't it.

Quicken and MS Money are still the two major personal finance products, and Money does have a good market share (and in the UK, MS Money is the only product that is currently sold).

So, I'm not sure there is enough evidence it should be in her list - I'm not sure why she calls it a flop - Microsoft keep producing the versions, and people keep buying them.

Money 2007 SKUs and System Requirements

I have added the SKU information for Microsoft Money 2007 to the US SKU page on the website at http://moneymvps.org/faq/article/138.aspx. As mentioned before, just the three products so far. No standard version, although it could be that this is related to the end of MSN Money Plus - perhaps the Standard version will be totally online? We'll need to wait and see how Microsoft address this end of the market.

Details for Microsoft Money 2007 features etc will be added across the site as I find them, so I've also added a placeholder page for the system requirements, which will be filled in when I have that information available. [Update 3rd July 2006 - corrected link, which was erroneously pointing to the Money 2008 timeline page, instead of the 2007 System Requirements Page]

Microsoft Money 2007 on Amazon

On June 5th, amazon.com added to their listings three Microsoft Money 2007 products. These are:

• MS Money 2007 Deluxe
• MS Money 2007 Premium
• MS Money 2007 Home and Business

There is NO standard version listed, and the Business SKU has been slightly renamed (from Deluxe and Business to Home and Business).

Update: The Home and Business product is now available for pre-order. There are not that many details listed though.

Update 2: (18 June): The Deluxe and Premium SKUs are also available for pre-order.

I would speculate we're looking at a month to six weeks, thinking back to last years timescales before it is widely available. Pre-ordering I would expect to be available before the end of June for all SKUs.

Microsoft® Money 2007 Internet-Based Services Policy

Microsoft have published their online services policy for Money 2007. The wording is exactly the same as the 2006 policy, with the following exceptions:

1. All references to Microsoft Money 2006 are now Microsoft Money 2007
2. The expiration date is 1st September 2009, instead of 1st September 2008.

There are no other changes in the text.

FAQ Article 400 and Balancing accounts in Microsoft Money

Well, I finally have got to FAQ article 400. It's not really 400 FAQ articles, as the first one is number 11, but it feels like a bit of a milestone. There are now maybe, 550 or more pages on the site - in the last 18 months I seem to have added and added lots of things.

Anyway, on my list of things to add were some short descriptions of balancing accounts. I dare say they need more work though.

There are two articles:

1. Balancing a Microsoft Money account against a paper statement
2. Balancing cash accounts

Both just highlight the options available to balance accounts.