Microsoft Money Deluxe 2005 [Old Version]

by Microsoft

Product Features

• Personal finance software with award-winning Portfolio Manager
• Automatically consolidates online financial information
• Essential tools for improving credit and organizing taxes
• Stay up-to-date on accounts and transactions
• Get help with credit and debt; simplify taxes

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 7.2 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: B0002D12D4
• Item model number: 860-00349
• Date first available at Amazon.com: August 2, 2004
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,756 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #7 in Software > Personal Finance > Investment Tools
  • #71 in Software > Personal Finance > Money Management
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Microsoft Money 2005 Deluxe includes everything in Money Standard; plus, it gives you all the help you need to improve credit and reduce debt, organize taxes, and automatically consolidate all of your transactions in one intuitive place. With online connections to thousands of financial institutions, Money 2005 Deluxe makes balancing personal finances effortless. And with Money’s customizable Home Page, you can easily see the finances that matter most to you--from current account balances to where you're spending your money to your cash-flow forecast.

Take the mystery out of credit.
Money 2005’s Credit Center provides you with all kinds of helpful credit- and debt-related tools, information, and guidance--you even get an Experian credit report and a full year of credit monitoring at no additional cost.

You'll have fast access to a thorough explanation of your credit profile, from your percentile ranking to your risk level, including new credit report inquiries. Money even lets you run what-if scenarios to calculate future risk and reward.

Make tax time a breeze.
Money 2005 makes it a snap to manage your taxes year round. The Tax Estimator lets you know what to expect, the Deduction Finder helps you find hidden deductions and maximize your refund, and the Tax Line Manager gives you an easy-to-read breakdown of tax-related income and expenses. And because Money tracks tax-related income and expenses, you can quickly and easily export your tax details to tax preparation software, minimizing the pain of completing your tax return.

Plan for a debt-free future.
It's easy to see the big picture--Money 2005 forecasts your cash flow and provides the tools and insights you need to help you reduce debt and plan for life events, like starting a family, paying for college tuition, or retirement. The Debt Reduction Planner lets you create different what-if scenarios to calculate when you can free yourself from debt by creating a plan that works for you. With Money you'll always know the bottom line, so you're free to achieve your short- and long-term goals.

Invest what you save.
With the money you save by getting your debt under control, you'll be able to put more in your 401(k) or other investment accounts. Then you can use Money’s Portfolio Manager and watch your investments grow.

See what’s new in Money 2005!

The new look of Microsoft Money 2005 makes managing your finances effortless and ensures that you get quick answers to your financial questions. Now it’s easier than ever to personalize Money to focus on the information that’s most important to you. If you just want a top-line view of your finances, then check out Money’s new Essential features: the Essential Account Register, the Essential Budget, and Essential Report and Charts. If you like working through all the details, then Money’s advanced features are for you. And Money 2005 automates more of your tasks, so you can spend more time balancing your life, not your accounts.

• More banks online! Now there are thousands of financial institutions nationwide, including banks, credit unions, and brokerages nationwide connect with Microsoft Money 2005. No need to surf to multiple Web sites or enter multiple passwords to check your financial data--just let Money automatically connect to all your accounts and provide up-to-date account balances. All your accounts in one place!
• Enhanced. Up and running fast. Getting started in Money has never been easier. Now in a few swift steps you can automatically connect to your bank, get updated account balances and transactions and set up your accounts. It’s that easy.
• New. Essential Register. The Essential Account Register is designed for people who just want a quick snapshot of their finances. You can quickly see your account balance and recent account activity, and know at a glance which transactions have cleared your bank.
• Enhanced. Advanced Register. With its new look and feel and resizable click-to-sort column headers, the Advanced Register provides more customization for people who like to invest time in tracking the precise details of their financial situation. The enhanced Advanced Account Register lets you manage your checkbook electronically by entering uncleared transactions, assigning subcategories, balancing your account, and more.
• Enhanced. Auto-categorization. Money automatically and smartly categorizes transactions to show you where your money is going.
• New. Essential Budget. Lets you easily get a handle on all your day-to-day budgeting tasks without investing a lot of time. The Essential Budget automatically tracks your spending based on your account and bill-pay transactions. The Favorite Categories graph shows how you're doing in key areas of spending. Use the Advanced Budget if you want to track irregular or one-time expenses or do other detailed budgeting.
• New. Essential Bills. Offers all the tools you need to quickly and efficiently manage your bills. You don't have to spend time tracking bill and account details, so it's easy to pay both your recurring and regular bills. Use Advanced Bills for more detailed features for tracking and paying your bills.
• Enhanced. Bill Calendar. Integrated with the register, this calendar provides a basic snapshot of bills, or if you prefer, more specific transaction details such as paychecks and investment purchases.
• Enhanced. Favorite Categories. Once major trouble spots for overspending are identified in the Favorite Categories, Money automatically tracks their daily status and provides alerts when overspending occurs.
• Enhanced. Spending Analysis. Money automatically generates a pie chart of expense categories over various time frames and shows dollar amounts and percentage breakouts for each area. New Spending Average: Money 2005 generates a monthly dollar average for spending in each predefined category, based on historical account data. This helps you better understand your spending habits, so you can create a more realistic budget.
• Enhanced. My Money home page With a new streamlined look, the My Money home page gives you an instant overview of your finances--up-to-date account balances, recent spending, and upcoming bills. Want more? You can add, remove, or rearrange the information to match your needs.
• Enhanced. Reports home page. Money generates numerous reports and charts, enabling you to analyze key areas of your finances. Focused on spending and budgeting, New Essential Reports provide the basic financial information most people need. You can see at a glance how much you spent on groceries last month or how much you paid to the plumber. Or view a monthly overview that wraps up the important details in one report. If you want to analyze detailed financial reports and see more specific information about your financial position, then use Advanced Reports, which provides more than 40 customizable, detailed reports and charts that delve into the specifics of a financial area. All of the reports can be extensively customized, and sent to a mail recipient or the desktop as a chart, XML data, or CSV data.
• Enhanced. Investing home page. Money’s redesigned Investing Home provides timely market information, an enhanced Portfolio Manager, and an Investing Advisor FYI module featuring recent alerts. This area also features a Q&A of commonly asked investing questions and links to commentary from MSN Money investing experts such as Jim Jubak.
• Enhanced. Portfolio Manager. Money and MSN Money share the same award-winning Portfolio Manager, and you can directly download account information from brokerages nationwide. After setting up Money 2005 to synchronize with MSN Money, you can access your investment information wherever you are--at home or on the road.
• New. Pop-up alerts. These convenient alerts give you a quick snapshot of what’s happening with your stocks, notifying you of significant news so you can stay on top of your portfolio.
• New. Stock split entries. Now the Portfolio Manager tracks stock splits in the transaction list, as well as the portfolio and transaction report.
• Enhanced. Planning home page. Updated with a new look and feel, this area automatically provides a snapshot of debt versus expenses and easy access to recent planning-related Advisor FYI Alerts.
• New. Planning Decision Centers. Money’s planning section features 27 Decision Centers that address everything from planning a dream retirement to getting the right insurance coverage.
• Enhanced. Taxes home page. Completely redesigned, the Taxes Home page provides answers to frequently asked tax questions, up-to-date commentary from MSN Money expert Jeff Schnepper, and tools for filing a 1040 form or preparing a complicated Schedule D.
• Enhanced. MSN Money integration. Money is more tightly integrated with the MSN Money personal finance Web site. The navigation bars mirror those found on MSN Money, and Money features timely content and popular tools from the award-winning site.
• New. MSN Money News. This area features headlines from MSN Money, including articles from CNBC, MSNBC, Forbes.com, and Briefing.com ,as well as relevant commentary from MSN Money’s experts on topics such as investing, spending, and taxes.
• New. MSN Money Decision Centers. In these centers, you will find useful tools, calculators, and expert commentary relevant to a specific financial task, such as paying down debt or buying a home.
• New. MSN Stock List. Money 2005 now lets you set up your investment holdings so you can access them via the MSN Stock List, including MSN Explorer, MSN Messenger, msn.com, My Money, and the Portfolio Manager, as well as on a mobile device.
• Enhanced. Anytime, anywhere access. Money lets you view your account statements and balances, pay and track online bills, and view investment holdings, anytime, any place--in Money, MSN Money, or on your mobile device.
• New. Multi-user access. Because Money 2005 enables custom settings for every user, several people can share access to the same Money file with their own usernames and passwords.
• Enhanced. Help. Now online, the Help system is updated regularly based on consumers’ inquiries and feedback, making it easy to quickly get assistance in any area of the software, from accounts to taxes to investing.

Product Description

Microsoft Money 2005 Deluxe is the personal finance solution that helps improve your financial picture by automatically consolidating your online bank and credit card information and providing essential tools for improving credit and organizing taxes.* Stay up-to-date on accounts and transactions Microsoft Money provides you with your most current account balances and transactions from different financial institutions in one place.* Get help with credit and debt The Credit Center helps you protect and improve your credit reduce high-interest debt and learn more about your credit rating.* Make taxes easier than ever Money automatically tracks expenses finds hidden deductions estimates taxes and provides reports to help make tax time easier.* Your budget your way Track spending in a few categories--like dining out and utilities--set up a full budget or compare your actual spending to your financial plan.* Follow the market and your portfolio MSN Money s award-winning Portfolio Manager puts all your investment information at your fingertips. REQUIREMENTS- Multimedia PC with Pentium 166 or faster processor (or compatible); Pentium II 266 (or compatible) processor required for Windows XP (Pentium II 300 recommended).Windows XP: 64 MB of RAM (128 MB recommended); Windows 2000 or Windows 98 SE: 32 MB of RAM (64 MB recommended).130 MB of available hard-disk space plus 60 MB for Internet Explorer 6 SP1 (if not already installed) plus an additional 200 MB while installing product updates.2x or faster CD-ROM drive Super VGA color monitor with minimum 256 colors capable of displaying 800 x 600 resolution 16-bit color recommended.Windows XP Windows 2000 SP3 or later or Windows 98 SE or later.Most online features require Microsoft .NET Passport; for more information see the Microsoft Money 2005 Internet-based services policy.Super VGA graphics card or compatible video graphics adapter.Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device.28.8 Kbps or faster modem; Internet func...

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

189 of 195 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Stick with your old version and use it to track the savings, September 22, 2004

By 

C. Stoneham (Texas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Money Deluxe 2005 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

Before I get into a review, let me state that I have ALWAYS been pro-Microsoft. Despite all the monopolizing and heavy-handedness and rushed updates, I have always felt they did more good than harm. I have yet to find a Microsoft product I didn't like... until now.

In a word, Microsoft Money 2005 is "horrible". I only gave it 2 stars because it still beats paper and pen :)

Now, if you're a new user, you probably won't notice anything bad about it and will continue on your merry way. Bravo for you (just don't do anything online until they release the second patch (yes, there's already one out) since 2005 is apparently quite broken with respect to about 50% of the institutions it claims to support).

If you're a previous Money user, pocket your $30 and invest it, using your old version to track the savings. I was terribly disappointed in 2005. To begin with, helpful features such as Bill Minder, "dual category lists", "in-register" spending forecast and upcoming bills, are gone. What have they been replaced with? I have no clue. As far as I can tell, they've replaced them with a HUGE toolbar (a la MSN Explorer but without the option to resize) and a LOT of white space (the register displays about 30 lines max (on "compressed" view) and runs literally down to the bottom of the screen.)

The home page actually displays less information (though it is prettier in a way) and the settings "menu" is a fiasco (again, much like MSN Explorer) with numerous hyperlinks that are not necessarily intuitive.

From what I could tell, reconciliation seemed to work as expected, but seemed to offer less information than 2003 did. I did not even take the time to get into investing since I uninstalled 2005 within 24 hours (and I am, without doubt, a "give it time" kind of person). I honestly felt like I had less control over my finances (or at least less information with which to make informed decisions) and didn't want to risk botching up my portfolio.

That's about it. I know it's a short review and probably leaves many questions unanswered, but I had only invested 24 hors in 2005 so a "roll back" to 2003 was fairly straightforward (and evidently necessary). To take more time would have meant a more difficult reversal. Again, I normally like MS products, but I can promise you this one will be going back to Redmond at their expense (30-day Money Back Guarantee).

I would STRONGLY recommend against buying Money 2005. It just isn't worth the money (I honestly wouldn't even take it free now). I can see no enhanced functionality and it actually appears reduced in places. The interface has been radically changed and, aside from being pretty, actually reduced my sense of "control" over my finances. Again, if you're brand new to Microsoft Money, I think you'll be satisfied. However, if you're a previous user... well... you've been warned...

PS Did I tell you that Money automatically (read: "Did not ask") reorganized my categories? It decided to treat "Dining out" as its own primary category instead of as a subcategory of "Food", effectively reorganizing over 100 transactions. This might have been OK if Money had asked, but it didn't. Makes me wonder what else was changed without my approval...

140 of 151 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Missing features and 2 year time out, September 26, 2004

By 

R. Jones (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft Money Deluxe 2005 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I am a MS Money fan so was quick to get the 05 version. Well I am uninstalling and rolling back to last years version!

First there is a new Internet Services Policy you must agree to. It starts out with "Microsoft® Money 2005 includes up to two (2) years of Internet-based Services. You will be able to use the Internet-based Services in Microsoft Money 2005 for a period of two (2) years from installation of the product or until September 1, 2007, whichever is earlier."
**** In two years you can not perform online banking!!!

Second the little Money Express program that reminds you of upcoming bills is gone.

I have 3 words for this program - Do Not Upgrade!
Stay With Your Current Version

43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Deeply disappointing upgrade, September 22, 2004

By 

tangofan (Mountain View, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Money Deluxe 2005 [Old Version] (CD-ROM)

I've used Money Deluxe 2001, 2003 and 2004 and have been a happy user so far, but this upgrade is in a (low) class of its own,
basically because Money 2005 seems to be unable to convert my existing Money 2004 file properly, so it just freezes whenever
I load that file and the "conversion" supposedly has completed. And according to Money 2004 my file isn't corrupt!

So I will stick with Money 2004 and try to return Money 2005.

If you're considering to buy Money 2005, wait until a trial version is available from the Microsoft website (supposedly around October 2004) and give that a try.