Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe [OLD VERSION]

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000069IL2
• Item model number: 860-00197
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 12, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,410 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #85 in Software > Personal Finance > Money Management
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Microsoft Money has helped individuals organize and streamline their financial dealings for a half-decade. The latest iteration, Money 2003, may be the most impressive upgrade in some time, with several new amenities designed to make your personal status even clearer, and your decisions and future planning even easier.

Before you invest in Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe, you should ask yourself if you really need it. If you're fortunate enough to have a simple financial environment with few delinquent payments, and if you've already arranged a comprehensive investment and online banking routine, you may find it redundant and superfluous. However, if you're constantly asking yourself where your latest paycheck went or simply don't know how to best make your money work for you, the program may well seem indispensable.

Sporting a wealth of online and offline tools, numerous instructional videos, and a series of supportive verbal prompts, Money 2003 is much more than just a simple debt and asset tracker. After a little familiarization and an hour or two with its excellent Setup Assistant, you'll soon be banking and paying bills from one convenient online interface, initiating and managing your investments, intelligently forecasting future expenditures and savings, and accurately estimating your taxes. The 2003 edition also allows you to research investments, initiate stock reminders and alerts, track equity and index options, and even customize interfaces.

Furthermore, Money 2003 Deluxe features several intriguing additional perks not found in the Standard edition. Microsoft has also included one year of complimentary online bill payments through MSN, a variety of sophisticated portfolio management and tax tools, and much more. Potential customers should be advised that many of the program's services are functional only if you have an Internet connection and a Microsoft Passport. Fortunately, the latter is free of charge.

Microsoft Money 2003 is a broad offline and online financial planner and record-keeper that will make quick work of any and all budgetary issues. Its slick presentation may even make the usually laborious job of managing personal finances downright enjoyable. --Gordon Goble

Amazon.com Product Description

Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe lets you manage your day-to-day finances, pay bills, track investments, prepare and file your taxes, and build a financial plan for your future. New features include auto balancing, a bills estimator, spending comparison reports, and investment reminders.

With Deluxe you can manage all aspects of your investment portfolio. Track your investments, including stocks, mutual funds, equity, index, and employee stock options. Estimate capital gains and view performance reports. Research investments and keep up with market developments with MSN Money tools. Achieve your future financial goals, such as reducing your debt, forecasting your cash flow, planning for retirement, financing an education, or saving to buy a house or car.

Money 2003 Deluxe features improved register reconciliation, better bill management, and the ability to save up to five scenarios to compare options of realized capital gains. Automatically balance accounts when they match your downloaded statements. Track equity and index calls, puts, and LEAPs. Even define the way payees are matched in downloaded statements to suit your preferences. Money 2003 Deluxe is a complete solution for finance management on your PC.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

85 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Beware - MS Money 2003 Expires after one year!, January 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

Please read the EULA (end user license agreement). Microsoft, in their usual sneaky fashion, have inserted a new clause that makes certain online update features expire after a certain period of time forcing you to purchase the next version of this software in 2004.

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent upgrade -- Finally!, August 16, 2002

By 

William W. Davis "famousdavis" - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

I've used Money since Money98, and Money 2003 is (finally!) a very good product/upgrade solution.

What I like: Money 2003 is much more code-efficient than Money 2002 (which was a terrible performer -- even on a fast 2 gig Pentium), so everything is quicker: reports run quickly, data entry is quick, and budget changes are quick. Secondly, Money 2003 didn't remove key functionality that its predecessors sometime did -- so if you use an older version of Money, the features you like are still there. Thirdly, you can batch epayments together and send them all at once (conversely, Money 2002 sent a payment by piecemeal, which was extremely slow and frustrating). Fourthly, a good product has been tweaked to iron-out some of the frustrations of earlier versions. In all -- it's a nice piece of software.

What I don't like: So far, I like everything I've seen. If there is something you don't like about Money, in all likelihood, there is an Options setting that will correct the problem. For example, to remove "sponsor" ads from within Money, find the option setting to stop displaying all sponsor's ads (by default, they'll show up). Also, when upgrading from an earlier version of Money, the newly-installed Money 2003 installation isn't smart enough to know that you already have a Money file that you want to just pick-up and use. You have to exit out of the set-up prompts, click File, Open and go from there. Not a big problem, but if you're not confident with upgrades, this might raise your stress level a notch.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Big Performance Gain Over Money 2002, August 14, 2002

By 

Amy Scarfone "Amy" (Seattle) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe [OLD VERSION] (CD-ROM)

My favorite version of Money to date has been 2000. It had a clean user interface with lots of useful features that didn't seem to go overboard. Subsequent releases of Money have been plagued with "featuritis", as the war with Quicken continues. Money 2002 is by far the worst victim of this disease. Microsoft added so many new features with little concern for their cost on performance. It got so bad that entering and editing data become almost as slow as handwriting it in a checkbook and using an abacus to calculate the results.

Finally, with Money 2003, Microsoft has begun to marry features with performance that returns to the speeds we loved in Money 2000. The interface and bells and whistles are similar to 2002, but the performance gain is exhilarating. If you've waited to upgrade and passed over previous versions, but have been itching to use some of Money's sophisticated online banking features, Money 2003 will be worth the leap.