Microsoft Money 2004 Standard

A Review by Fred A. Gattas

Microsoft's Money 2004 was packaged in an attractive box with a $10.00 rebate, good ‘til the end of the year. The installation was easy, loading from a single CD with no glitches, even for a novice like me. There was a warning that an installed Antivirus or Firewall might create installation problems: I experienced none.

I was impressed with the multitude of services offered, although I don't know what the previous versions had available. The Bill Paying program, that came as part of my IBM computer purchase, works well with MS Money. In the Financial section, I was able to easily insert what holdings I had and get the most recent share values. The research capabilities of evaluating any stock I was interested in seemed very thorough and objective. I liked the range of information available to me and the ability to compare items in the same section with each other. The software uses the FIFO (first in, first out) method as a suggestion for sales, but I found it difficult to keep track of those assets where I didn't want to use that format, and selected items "out of order" to suit my particular needs.

I liked the free credit reporting from Experian and the free trial offer from GainsKeeper. The offer to upgrade to Money 2004 "DeLuxe" seemed a little high at $19.99, when Money 2004 "Standard" is available for about $30.00.

A helpful feature was comparing the cost of a recent new printer purchase with what was available thru The Shopping Center included in this program. It was easy to look up other items I was interested in, for which the prices seemed very competitive.

I didn't like the extensive advertising seen when bringing up Money (of course, all Microsoft products.) I also didn't like the costs in using the Bill Paying function at each money transfer that was listed at $1.50 each for "free" and "standard" lists of companies. It was unclear which companies fit in each category. There was also a "Premium" plan with no cost to anyone online. The next screen showed a fee of from $2.95 to $5.95 per month for services. This could have been clearer.

An overview of the program is that it is very complete in its offering of many services and well worth the cost. Microsoft claims it is easy to convert from Quicken, which I don't use, so I can't comment on this. There was also ease in entering into my brokerage account from within Money 2004.

The new features in the DeLuxe and Premium versions may appeal to those that can use these features, but this standard version well suited my needs, and I was well satisfied with it.

Money 2004 Standard

Microsoft Corporation

$29.95 Full version

-$10.00 rebate (no upgrade proof required)

http://www.microsoft.com/money/info/quicken.asp