MONEY
LAST UPDATED:
22 May 2006 03:04:32 +0200
Changes to this page are IN PROGRESS
So you say you've tried everything--fiddled with countless budgets,
cut out unnecessary expenses--and you're still having problems
reducing your debt? Don't feel bad--Money offers you yet more bang for
your buck by offering the Debt Reduction Planner, which can help you
see your way clear to a debt-free life.
To get started on your way to a debt-free existence, the first step
is to specify the accounts you want to include in the Debt Plan. The
Include Debt Accounts In Your Plan screen lists all of your liability
accounts--credit accounts, loans, etc. To move an account into the
Debt Plan, select the account name and then click the Move Into Plan
button. As you can see, Money moves the account name into the Accounts
In Debt Plan section of the planner. Continue adding the appropriate
account names to the planner. At the bottom right of the Planner
screen, note the Status area, which calculates the Total Debt In Plan
and the Total Debt Not In Plan.
For now, you may want to just enter your credit card debt and leave
out auto and mortgage debt from the Debt Reduction planner. That way,
you can concentrate on getting out of discretionary debt, or the debt
that you really can control right now.
YOU CAN REDUCE YOUR DEBT--PART 2 OF 6
Once you've added your debt accounts to the Debt Reduction Planner
(click Planner in the Navigation bar, click the Debt Reduction Planner
link and follow the instructions in Money), click the Next button
located in the upper-right corner of the screen. The next step is to
define your payment plan; first, indicate whether you want to base
your plan on a specific amount you can pay each month or on a date by
which you want to be out of debt.
Today we'll experiment with different payment amounts that you
could pay toward debt each month--Money will calculate the length of
time it will take to you to get out of debt. Tomorrow's tip will show
you how you can experiment with different dates, letting Money tell
you the amount of the monthly payment you'll need to come up with in
order to meet the deadline you choose.
To experiment with different monthly payments, select the What I
Want To Pay Each Month button at the very top of the Planner window.
Then, indicate the amount of money that you can allocate to your debt
each month. You can enter this amount yourself or use the slider tool.
Once you enter an amount, take a look at the Status section in the
lower-left of the screen as well as the information provided at the
very bottom of the screen. Note that this takes all of your debt
balances into account. It gives you the lowdown on your existing debt
by calculating when you will be debt-free based on the information you
have supplied. It also shows you the total amount of interest you will
have paid out over the course of your debt. Yikes!
YOU CAN REDUCE YOUR DEBT--PART 3 OF 6
Once you've added your debt accounts to the Debt Reduction Planner
(click Planner in the Navigation bar, click the Debt Reduction Planner
link and follow the instructions in Money), you can define your
approach to your payment plan.
In our last tip, we showed you how to define a payment plan based
on a specific monthly amount that you could muster to pay off your
debt. (Select the What I Want To Pay Each Month button at the very top
of the Planner window, then indicate the amount of money that you can
allocate to your debt each month.) In this tip, we'll show you what to
do if you want to be debt-free by a certain date.
To experiment with different dates, select the Date I Want To Be
Out Of Debt button at the very top of the Planner window. Then, enter
the date by which you want to be debt-free. Again, you can set this
date yourself or use the slider tool. Once you enter the date, take a
look at the Status section in the lower-left of the screen and at the
information provided at the very bottom of the screen. Money tells you
the monthly payment you'll need to come up with in order to achieve
your debt-free goal. It also shows you the total amount of interest
you will have paid out over the course of your debt.
YOU CAN REDUCE YOUR DEBT--PART 4 OF 6
One of the cardinal rules of obtaining a debt-free existence is to
send as much money as you possibly can to your credit cards each
month. And remember--if you stick to the minimum payment plan
suggested by your credit card company, you'll end up paying a lot more
in interest that you ever would have for the original purchase.
If you've come up with some additional cash that can be used to pay
down your debt, you can enter this amount in the Onetime, Extra
Payment field of the current Debt Reduction plan to see what effect it
will have on your debt balance. For instance, if you'd like to use
your bonus money to help pay off your debt faster, enter the amount of
the bonus in the Making A One-Time Extra Payment field.
When you enter the one-time amount, Money recalculates your monthly
payment and shows how such a payment will reduce your overall required
monthly payment. In addition, an extra payment will reduce the overall
interest and move up your debt-free date.
YOU CAN REDUCE YOUR DEBT--PART 5 OF 6
After you've experimented with different payment plans in the Debt
Reduction Planner and you've come to a decision about how much you can
afford to spend each month, click the Next button to review your Debt
Plan. This next phase of the Planner orders your debt to get you out
of the red as soon as possible and, more importantly, to minimize the
amount of wasted money--interest payments--that you will pay out over
time. In most cases, it will suggest that you send more money to the
credit card company with the highest interest rate and send the
minimum amount to the others.
The Debt Plan consists of three different views. To switch between
views, click the View button and select from the resulting dropdown
menu. The views include:
- The Payment Schedule Chart, which shows the declining balance of
our debt over time, displayed as a line graph. You can click on any
point in the line to see your balance at that time.
- The Payment Schedule by Month, which shows you your payment schedule
by month. In addition to displaying the amount of the payment you
should send to each credit card debt, this view also breaks down each
payment to show the principal and interest portion of the payment, as
well as the balance.
- The Payment Schedule by Account, which displays your payments by
account. Again, each payment is also broken down to display the
principal and interest amounts as well as the remaining balance.
YOU CAN REDUCE YOUR DEBT--PART 6 OF 6
The final phase of the Debt Reduction Planner is the Take Action
And Reduce Your Debt screen. This final step enables you to schedule
your payments using these suggested monthly payment amounts. To
schedule your payments, simply click each suggested scheduled payment.
When you do, Money adds these payments to the Bills schedule and you
will be reminded each month to pay your bill. That's it! You're on
your way to a debt-free existence!
Now that you've got your credit card debt under control, the next
thing to tackle is that most elusive of beasts--cash. Unlike checks or
even credit card purchases, cash can be next to impossible to track.
For starters, you usually don't have any hard copy proof of the items
you tend to buy--people rarely get receipts for daily cash purchases
such as newspapers, coffee, bus fare, chocolates bars, and the like.
The best way to become aware of your cash purchases is to carry
around a little notebook in which to write down every purchase you
make, no matter how minuscule the amount. Even better, make sure you
hang onto any receipt you do collect during the course of the day. At
the end of each week, you should start to gain a sense of where all
your hard-earned cash ends up. Also a Personal Data Assistant (PDA)
can be very helpful, especially if it can export directly to Money.
We're tracking the wild cash beast. So far, we've made meticulous
notes about the places our cash goes each day and learned how to
record a cash withdrawal in Money. (In your check register, click the
View button located just at the top of the window and select Use Forms
To Enter Transactions. Click the Cash Withdrawal tab. Money enters
Cash as the Payee. Fill in the rest of the pertinent information.)
After you've recorded the initial cash withdrawal in your checking
account, you can then itemize all of your cash purchases in Money. Use
the Split feature to itemize each purchase you made.
To itemize your cash purchases, record the initial cash withdrawal
as you would any transaction and then select Edit, Split. If you've
already recorded the cash withdrawal, simply select the transaction
and select Edit, Split. Next, in the Split Transaction dialog box,
enter the specifics of each item you purchased. In this case, assign
the appropriate category, enter the specific purchase in the
Description field, and enter the amount. Click Done when you have
finished entering your purchases. Press Enter to record the itemized
transaction.
In our last tip we introduced the first step in tracking the wild
cash beast--writing it down. Now that you've recorded exactly where
your cash is going, how do you keep track of all your cash purchases
in Money? It's really pretty easy. You record your cash purchases just
as you would any other transaction. But before you can begin recording
your cash purchases, you must first record the initial cash
withdrawal.
Let's say for instance that you withdrew $50 from your main
checking account through your friendly, local ATM machine. To account
for this transaction in Money, you simply record this transaction as a
Cash Withdrawal in your check register.
To do so, first switch to your checking account by selecting
Accounts from the Navigation bar and then double-click on your
checking account from the list of accounts. Next, click the View
button located just at the top of the check register window and select
Use Forms To Enter Transactions. Click the Cash Withdrawal tab. When
you do, Money enters Cash as the Payee. Fill in the rest of the
pertinent information, such as date, amount, and category. Press Enter
to record the transaction. If you'd rather enter your transactions
directly in the register, simply enter Cash in the Payee field and
input the remaining information.
Now that you've been itemizing your cash transactions, you probably
have a pretty good idea of where your cash is going. But what about
the cash purchases made by your significant other or other family
members? To keep track of all those cash withdrawals and purchases
made by both you and any others who use the account, create a
classification for each of you. Then be sure to assign the
classification to the appropriate cash transactions.
To create the classifications, select Categories from the
Navigation
bar, and then select Classification 1 from the Categories & Payees
list. Next, click the New button, enter your name in the Name field,
and click OK. Repeat this step for each family member whose cash
spending you want to track. When the time comes to record a cash
transaction, enter the transaction as usual, except this time be sure
to assign the appropriate classification. To do so, click the dropdown
arrow in the Classification 1 field and select the appropriate name.
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REPORTING CASH SPENDING, PART 1 OF 2
In this past series of tips we've shown you how to keep on top of
your
cash spending. In this tip, we'll tell you how to create a report that
shows exactly where your cash went and how much was spent. To create
the cash report, select Reports from the Navigation Bar and select the
Spending Habits category. Then, from the Report & Chart Gallery,
select the Account Transactions report and click the Customize button
located at the bottom of the screen. Enter a title for the report,
such as Cash Spending, in the Title field of the Customize Report
dialog box. Click the Payee tab and click the Clear All button. Next,
scroll through the Payee list and select the Cash listing. Deselect
the option labeled Include Transactions With No Payee (blank) in
Search. Next, click the Details tab, select Payments in the Type
field, and then click OK. Finally, click the Go To Report/Chart button
to view your customized cash spending report.
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REPORTING CASH SPENDING, PART 2 OF 2
When you customize one of Money's predefined reports, as we did in
our
previous tip, it pays to save the report as a Favorite. By doing so,
you can access this custom report at any time without having to
customize the report settings again. To save the cash spending report
settings, select Favorites, Add To Favorites. You can now access this
customized report whenever you need to by selecting Favorites,
Favorite Reports and then selecting your saved report (in this case,
Cash Spending) from the list of reports.
Once you've saved your customized report as a Favorite, you'll need
to
restore the report back to its original settings. To do so, return to
the Reports & Charts Gallery, select the report you just customized,
(in this case it was the Account Transactions report), and click the
Reset button.
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CREATING A CASH ACCOUNT, PART 1 OF 3
Here is yet another way to keep on top of your cash spending:
create a
cash account and then record all of your cash purchases in that
account. By doing so, you establish a single location for tracking
cash purchases.
To create the cash account, select Accounts from the Navigation bar
and click the New Account button located at the bottom of the screen.
In the New Account dialog box, select Not Held At Bank, Brokerage Or
Other Financial Institution and click Next. Select Cash from the list
of account types and click Next. Enter a name for the account, such as
Cash Spending, and click Next. If you currently have cash on hand that
you want to track, enter the amount in the Balance field and click
Finish. If you don't, simply leave this field blank and click Finish.
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CREATING A CASH ACCOUNT, PART 2 OF 3
In our last tip, we showed you how to create a cash account for
tracking all of your cash spending. When you open the cash account
register, you'll notice that the register is a little different from
your checking account register. Specifically, the cash account
contains columns for Spend and Receive--the equivalent of Payment and
Deposit. Each time you make a cash withdrawal from your checking
account or whenever you have cash on hand, enter the amount in the
Receive column. To record a cash purchase, enter the amount of the
purchase in the Spend column. Each cash purchase transaction you
record decreases the amount of the cash balance on hand. As you record
your purchases in your cash account, you'll soon start to notice a
pattern in your cash spending.
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CREATING A CASH ACCOUNT, PART 3 OF 3
When you use a cash account to track your spending, you can record
your cash withdrawals directly in the account, as we demonstrated in
our last tip. If you withdrew the cash from your checking account,
however, you'll also want to maintain a record of the cash withdrawal
in your checking account. To do so, you can transfer the cash
withdrawal from your checking account to your cash account.
So, whenever you make a cash withdrawal, either from an ATM machine
or
through an actual bank teller (if they still exist!), enter the
transaction in your checking account as you normally would. Then
transfer the cash withdrawal to your cash account for closer
monitoring. To do so, enter the name of the cash account (in this
case, Cash Spending), in the Category field. When you do, the Category
will appear as Transfer To: Cash Spending. Quicken then transfers the
cash withdrawal to your cash spending account.
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MANAGING YOUR CATEGORIES, PART 1 OF 3
Over time, as you work with Money, you'll probably do a lot of
rearranging within the category list. You're likely to create your own
categories, and you'll probably also delete a few categories. After
adding your own personal categories, you'll find that the category
list can get rather unwieldy. Fortunately, you can winnow down the
category list by removing categories that have never been used. To do
so, select Tools, Options, and click the Categories tab. Next, click
the Remove Unused Categories button. Money will then proceed to remove
any categories from the category list that have not been assigned to a
transaction. Click OK in the resulting dialog box and then OK again to
close the Options dialog box.
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MANAGING YOUR CATEGORIES, PART 2 OF 3
In our last tip, we showed you how to remove categories that
haven't
been used from the category listing. If you plan on using some of the
categories, but just haven't gotten around to it, you can have Money
prompt you before it deletes a category from the list. That way, you
can choose the specific categories you want to keep and those you wish
to remove. To do so, select Tools, Options, and click the Categories
tab. Make sure the Ask Me Before Removing Each Category option is
selected, and then click the Remove Unused Categories button. For each
unused Category, Money will display a dialog box asking you if you
want to delete that category. Answer accordingly. You can click the
Cancel button at any time to abort the process.
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MANAGING YOUR CATEGORIES, PART 3 OF 3
The past two tips have demonstrated how you can manage your
categories
listing by removing categories that have not been used. If you later
wish to restore the category list so that all of the original
categories provided by Money are available to you, select Tools,
Options, and click the Categories tab. Next, click the Restore
Standard Categories button. Money restores the standard categories
list and displays a dialog box relating the fact. Click OK twice. Any
standard categories that had been deleted will be restored to the
list.
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RETRACING YOUR STEPS
As you jump around from screen to screen in Money, it's easy to
lose
track of a report you've viewed or an account you've accessed.
Fortunately, Money offers a convenient way to retrace your steps: just
click the Back button, located in the far right of the Navigation bar.
Each time you select Back, Money backtracks to each of the areas you
have accessed in the current session.
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JUST THE FACTS
If you need to find out specific details about a particular
account,
you can do so right from the Account Manager--without having to first
access the account. To do this, select Accounts from the Navigation
bar and then click the Account Manager button. Next, simply
right-click the account name and select Go To Details from the
resulting shortcut menu. Money displays the Details screen of the
particular account.
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MONITOR ACCOUNT BALANCES
Does your bank start charging fees if your checking or savings
account
balance drops below a minimum amount? Money's Advisor FYI Alerts
feature can let you know when your account balances fall below a
specified amount. To set the minimum balance alert for an account,
select Tools, Customize Advisor FYI, and then click the Account
Balances tab. Select the name of your checking account from the list
of accounts. Next, select the Less Than checkbox, input the minimum
amount allowed, and click OK. Now, if your checking account balance
drops below the minimum amount, you will be alerted of the fact via a
dialog box.
Tip within a Tip: Why not add an extra hundred dollars to the
minimum
amount specified so you can give yourself a little breathing room? For
instance, if your bank starts charging fees when your balance drops
below $500, enter a minimum amount of $600.
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KEEPING CREDIT IN CHECK
In our last tip, we showed you how to use the Advisor FYI Alerts to
keep an eye on your account balances. In this tip, we'll show you how
to use the Advisor FYI Alerts to help you keep tabs on your credit.
Specifically, Money can alert you when the amount you owe exceeds a
certain limit. Likewise, if you're being good and paying off your
credit card debt as we dictated last month, you can also be alerted to
the good news--when the amount you owe is less than indicated.
To keep tabs on your credit spending, select Tools, Customize
Advisor
FYI, and click the Account Balances tab. Select the name of the credit
card account you want to monitor from the list of accounts. Next,
select the More Than checkbox and then input the amount the account
should not exceed. Select the Less Than checkbox and enter the
specified amount. Click OK when you have finished. Now, when your
credit card balance goes above or drops below the amounts you've
specified, Money will alert you of the fact via a dialog box.
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KEEP TRACK OF SPENDING
You can also use the Advisor FYI Alerts to help curb your spending.
Specifically, you can set up an alert that will keep a watch on
expenses related to a particular category. Say for instance that you
want to limit how much you spend on eating dinner out in a month. You
simply indicate the maximum spending amount allowed for the category.
Then, when that category exceeds a predetermined amount, Money will
alert you to the fact.
To monitor your expenses, select Tools, Customize Advisor FYI, and
then click the Monthly Spending tab. Select the category you want to
track from the list of categories and click the Over checkbox. When
you do, a check mark appears to the left of the category name. Next,
input the appropriate amount and click OK. Now, when your category
spending goes above the specified amount, you will be alerted via a
dialog box.
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CHART YOUR SPENDING
In the last tip, we showed you how to keep tabs on your spending by
setting up an Advisor FYI Alert which displays a dialog box reminder
when an expense exceeds a predetermined amount. In this tip, we'll
show you how to set up a more permanent reminder. You can add a chart
to your Money Home Page that will track the progress of your spending
based on the amount you specified. This way, you'll be able to see
where you stand at any moment.
To add the chart to your Money Home Page, select Tools, Customize
Advisor FYI, and then click the Monthly Spending tab. Select the
category you want to track from the list of categories and click the
Over checkbox. When you do, a check mark appears to the left of the
category name. Next, input the appropriate amount in the Over amount
box and then select Show Chart Of My Spending On Money Home. Click OK.
The spending chart appears in the Advisor section on the Money Home
Page. Select Money Home from the Navigation bar to switch to the Money
Home Page. The chart reads almost like a gas gauge--it shows you how
much you have spent on that particular category and how much is
remaining.
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KEEP TRACK OF IMPORTANT DATES, PART 1 OF 2
Money's Advisor FYI Alerts can also be used to remind you of
important
financial events, including giving you a heads-up on the tax season,
holidays, and the like. To specify the events you wish to be reminded
of, select Tools, Customize Advisor FYI, and then click the Important
Dates tab. Next, from the list of events, select those you wish to be
reminded of, and then click OK.
Money displays these reminders not as dialog box triggers, as it
does
with Account Balances and Cash Spending alerts, but as listings within
the Advisor FYI section on your Money Home Page. The reminder will
appear in the Advisor on the day on which the event occurs. You'll
want to make a habit of referring to the Advisor section on a daily
basis, so that these reminders don't slip through the cracks.
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KEEP TRACK OF IMPORTANT DATES, PART 2 OF 2
With the Advisor FYI Alerts, you can keep track of other important
dates in your life besides those of just a financial nature. For
instance, you can add dates such as your Mom's birthday, your
anniversary, or any other event that occurs on a yearly basis. To add
your own events, select Tools, Customize Advisor FYI, and then click
the Important Dates tab. Next, click the New button and enter the
Event and the Date and click OK. Click OK again in the Advisor FYI
Options dialog box. Money will alert you to the events as they occur,
in the form of reminders in the Advisor section on the Money Home
Page.
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SEEK THE ADVISOR
In this past series of tips, we've been discussing Money's Advisor
FYI
Alerts feature, which helps you keep a close eye on your account
balances and reminds you of upcoming events. If you're currently using
Microsoft Money 99 Financial Suite, you'll also want to check out the
Advisor FYI, which appears as a section on the Money Home Page. This
area provides personalized financial guidance based on actions you've
performed. For instance, if you create an account to keep track of
your mortgage, the Advisor FYI will provide information on mortgage
rates and related topics. So take a look at what the Advisor FYI has
to say.
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GET SPECIFIC ADVICE
You can get the most out of the Advisor FYI by specifying which
types
of advice you'd like to receive. For instance, you can specify that
you're interested in advice on topics such as mortgage rates and tax
information, but that you aren't interested in investment or budgeting
advice. To customize the Advisor FYI content, select Tools, Customize
Advisor FYI--or click the Customize link in the Advisor FYI section on
the Money Home Page. In the resulting Advisor FYI Options dialog box,
select the Choose Advisor FYI tab. Next, select the topics you wish to
include in the Advisor FYI. Note that selected topics are designated
by a checkmark. To deselect a topic, remove the checkmark by clicking
on it.
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NO MORE ADVICE, PLEASE
In our last tip, we showed you how to select the type of advice
you'd
like to receive from the Advisor FYI. If you'd rather not get any
advice at all, you can turn off this display of the Advisor
altogether. (Too bad you can't do this to your mother or other
well-meaning soul!) Note that when you turn off the Advisor FYI,
you'll still receive the triggers generated by the Advisor FYI Alerts,
but you will no longer be reminded of important dates nor receive any
content-specific advice.
To turn off the Advisor, select Tools, Customize Advisor FYI--or
click
the Customize link in the Advisor FYI section on the Money Home Page.
Next, select the Choose Advisor FYI tab and deselect the option
labeled Show Advisor FYI On Money Home. Click OK when you are done.
The Advisor FYI section no longer appears on your Money Home Page.
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AN ADVISOR REPORT
The monthly report, which Money generates toward the end of every
month, displays all of the Advisor FYI information that you've
received throughout the month. To display the monthly report, click on
Reports in the Navigation bar and then select Monthly Reports. Next,
select the monthly report you wish to view from the Report & Chart
Gallery. Scroll down through the report until you reach the Advisor
FYI portion of the report, or click Advisor FYI from the left side of
the screen. Here, you'll find all of the Advisor FYI information that
has been generated throughout the month. Note that the report does not
include any Advisor FYI Alerts generated, except for any Important
Dates you've specified.
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CREATE YOUR OWN VIEW
In the Account Manager, you can select the way you want to view
your
accounts. The Account Balances view, for instance, includes
information such as Name, Type, Account Number, Financial Institution,
and Balance. The problem is, when you switch to the Balances view, you
usually end up having to scroll over to see the contents of the
Balance column--due to the space taken up by the information displayed
in the Account Number and Financial Institution columns. This can be a
real pain, particularly when you're not the least bit interested in
where the account is held--you only want to see its balance. In this
tip we'll show you how to remove the Financial Institution column from
the display so that you can instantly view the contents of the Balance
column. To adjust the width of the column, position the mouse pointer
on the right edge of the column you want to resize, (in this case the
Financial Institution column). When the mouse pointer changes to a
double-headed arrow, click and drag the pointer all the way to the
left. When you release the mouse button, the Financial Institution
column is removed from the view.
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RETURN TO AN ORIGINAL VIEW
In our last tip we showed you how to adjust the width of the
columns
in the Account Manager in order to get the view you want. To restore
the width of a column, position the mouse pointer on the right edge of
the column you want to restore. When the mouse pointer changes to a
double-headed arrow, double-click the border. When you do, the column
is restored to its original size.
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CREATE YOUR OWN PAYEE
By default, Money automatically stores every Payee you record in a
transaction in the Payee List. The idea is that each time you record a
payment to a payee, you won't have to retype the same payee
information over and over again. But did you know that you can also
create a new payee at any time? That is, without having to necessarily
enter it as a transaction? For instance, you can create a Payee up
front, and when the time comes to record a transaction with that
payee, you can simply pull the name from the Payee list.
To create a new payee, click Categories in the Navigation bar and
then
click Payees to display the current list of Payees. Click the New
button located at the bottom of the Payee List. In the resulting
Create New Payee dialog box, enter the name of the payee and click OK.
The next time you want to add that payee to a transaction in your
register, simply select it from the Payee list.
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RENAMING PAYEES
In the last tip, we showed you how to create your own payees. In
this
tip, we'll show you how to rename a payee. Note that when you rename a
payee, Money will also rename existing transactions as well. To rename
a payee, click Categories in the Navigation bar and then click Payees
to display the current list of Payees. Select the payee you want to
rename from the Payee List and click the Rename button located at the
bottom of the screen. In the resulting Rename Payee dialog box, enter
the new name for the payee and click OK to record the changes.
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BE THE BOSS OF YOUR PAYEES
In this series of tips, we've shown you how to create a new payee
and
rename existing payees. You can also decide if a payee name that you
record in a transaction should be stored in the Payee list at all.
That way, you can type a payee as usual, but only record those payees
that you know you will use again. For instance, you don't want to
store payee information recorded in transactions you made while on
vacation.
To pick and choose the payees you want to save, select Tools,
Options,
and in the Options dialog box select the Editing tab. Next, in the
Confirmation Options section of the dialog box, select the option
labeled Confirm New Payees and click OK. Now when you type a new payee
in the transaction form and press Enter to record the transaction,
Money will ask if you want to add the payee to your list. Click Yes to
add the payee to the Payee List. Click No to record the payee
information in the current transaction only--and not add it to the
Payee List.
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TURNING OFF AUTOCOMPLETE
One of the nicer features of Money is AutoComplete, a tool that
attempts to save you time and keystrokes by anticipating your moves
and automatically supplying information when you begin to type. For
instance, when you type a name in the Pay To line of a transaction,
Money will fill in the appropriate payee name, based on the first few
characters you type. If you'd rather not have Money behave this way,
you can turn off AutoComplete altogether.
To turn off the AutoComplete functionality, select Tools, Options
and
in the Options dialog box, select the Editing tab. Next, deselect the
option labeled Use AutoComplete and click OK. Now when you type data
in the payee or category fields, Money will not attempt to match up
what you are typing with something that is already in the list. You
will either have to type in the entire name yourself or select it from
the dropdown list.
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JUMPY CATEGORY LISTS
In a manner similar to AutoComplete, Money also attempts to save
you
time by automatically activating the dropdown list whenever you click
in the Category and Class fields. And like AutoComplete, you can turn
this feature off as well. To do so, select Tools, Options, and in the
Options dialog box, select the Editing tab. Next, deselect the option
labeled Automatically Drop Down Category Lists and click OK. Now when
you click in or move to the category or class fields, Money will not
display the list. You'll have to click on the dropdown arrow yourself
to display the listing.
----------------------------------------------
A SAFER BACKUP
In the past, we've told you how important it is to back up your
files.
To be on the safe side, Money also automatically creates a backup copy
of your files on your hard drive. By default, Money saves the backup
file to the c:\My Documents directory. You can change the location of
the backup to any directory you want.
To change the location of the backup file, select Tools, Options,
and
click the Backup tab. In the Save In box, indicate the path and
directory for saving the backup copy of your Money file. You can also
click the Browse button and point to the directory location as well.
Click OK when you have finished.
----------------------------------------------
BACK UP MY FILE, PLEASE
If you can't remember to back up your Money file on your own, Money
can remind you to do so. By default, Money prompts you to back up your
file every 14 days. If you'd rather back up your file on a more
frequent basis, say once a week, you can change it accordingly. To
change the frequency of your backup, select Edit, Options, and click
the Backup tab. Make sure that the Automatically Back Up To Floppy
option is selected (a checkmark appears to the left of it), and then
enter the appropriate number; for instance, enter 7 to back up your
file every seven days. Click OK when you have finished.
----------------------------------------------
BACK UP MY FILE ONLY WHEN I SAY
If you'd rather not receive reminder messages from Money telling
you
to back up your files, you can turn off the Backup reminder dialog box
altogether. But when you do, you're really on your own. So make sure
you back up your file often. To turn off the backup reminder, select
Edit, Options, and click the Backup tab. Deselect the option labeled
Automatically Back Up To Floppy (the checkmark should no longer appear
to the left of it). Click OK when you have finished.
----------------------------------------------
CLEAR A SPLIT TRANSACTION
When you reuse a Payee that has previously stored information, such
as
a split, it automatically appears in the new transaction as well. To
clear a split from a transaction and assign a different category,
simply select the new category from the list. When you do, Money
displays a dialog box that alerts you that the information stored in
the split will be removed. Click OK to remove the split information
and assign the new category.
----------------------------------------------
EDIT A SPLIT TRANSACTION
When you want to edit the specifics of a split transaction, select
the
transaction you want to edit and then select Edit, Split. You can also
right-click and select Edit, Split from the resulting shortcut menu.
In the resulting Split Transaction dialog box, make any changes to the
information that are necessary and click Done. Press the Enter key to
save the transaction with the new information.
----------------------------------------------
. MULTIPLE MONEY ACCOUNTS, PART 1 OF 2
Does your household maintain separate files? Say, one for you and
another for your roommate, significant other, or even child? If so,
you can continue to go about your business as usual. Then, when the
time comes for generating comparison reports or creating a single
location for household transactions, you can import the data from one
file into another.
The first thing to do is to export the account data from the first
Money file onto either a floppy disk or the local hard disk. If
necessary, insert a blank, formatted floppy disk into your PC. Then,
select File, Export, select Loose QIF in the Export dialog box, and
click OK. Next, enter a name for the export file. Be sure to indicate
in the file name the location of the file. By default, Money exports
files to the hard drive (C:\) of the current PC. For instance, if you
want to export the file to a floppy disk you would type a:\billdata.
Click OK when you have entered the file name.
The next step is to indicate the type of account you want to
export.
Your choices are either Regular or Investment. In this case, select
Regular and click OK. Next, select the account whose data you want to
export. For instance, select Checking to export transactions from your
check register. Click Continue to export the data. Finally, click OK
when the export has been completed.
Money exports the transactions from the selected account to a
floppy
disk and saves the information in the file name you indicated with a
QIF extension. Stay tuned. In the next tip we'll show you how to
import the data back into a Money file.
----------------------------------------------
MULTIPLE MONEY ACCOUNTS, PART 2 OF 2
In our last tip we introduced the concept of multiple Money
accounts,
that is, accounts for different people located in multiple files. In
this tip we'll show you how to import the data from one account into
another Money account file. Remember that you'll need to first export
the data. To do so, select File, Export and then specify the account
data you want to export.
Now you're ready to import the data. First, activate the file in
which
you wish to import the data. If necessary, use the File, Open command
to open the correct file. Next, make sure the floppy disk containing
the export file is in the floppy disk drive (if you saved it to a
floppy disk that is). Then, select File, Import, and indicate the name
of the export file, including the drive letter. Click Import. At this
point, Money wants to create a backup copy of the current file. Answer
accordingly. Next, select the account in which you wish to import the
data and click OK. If the export file contains a reference to an
account that doesn't exist, Money will prompt you to either create the
account or assign the account name to an existing account. Respond
accordingly and click OK.
----------------------------------------------
ANALYZE YOUR FINANCES IN EXCEL, PART 1 OF 3
Although Money's many reports and financial tools enable you to get
a
good grasp of your finances, sometimes you need to turn to a more
powerful tool, such as a spreadsheet program, for closer scrutiny. If
you have Excel, you're in luck. You can import data from your Money
accounts into an Excel spreadsheet and perform more intense
calculations using the Money Link add-in.
Before you can begin importing your Money data, you need to first
install the Money Link add-in. To do so, switch to or start the Excel
program. Then, select Tools, Add-In from the Excel main menu and click
the Browse button. Locate the folder in which you have installed
Money. This is usually c:\program files\Microsoft Money\MoneyLink.
Locate the file named Money Link99, select it, and then click OK.
Excel then installs the add-in. Notice the addition of the Money Link
toolbar in your Excel worksheet and toolbar area.
----------------------------------------------
ANALYZE YOUR FINANCES IN EXCEL, PART 2 OF 3
Once you have installed the Money Link add-in, you can begin to
import
your data from Money accounts. To specify the information you want to
import, select Data, Get Money Data. In the resulting dialog box,
indicate the name of your Money file. This file is usually called
c:\My Documents\filename.mny, where filename is the name of your Money
file. Click the Next button to continue. From the resulting list of
options, select the data you wish to import. For instance, select
Account Transactions For A Specific Account to import all transactions
from a particular account. In the Date Range section of the dialog
box, indicate the date range for the transactions you want to import.
Click Next to continue. If prompted, select the Account Name from
which to import the data and click Next. Indicate where you would like
to insert the data, either in the Current Worksheet or a New
Worksheet. Finally, click Import Data to import the data into the
Excel worksheet.
----------------------------------------------
ANALYZE YOUR FINANCES IN EXCEL, PART 3 OF 3
After you use Money Link to import data into your Excel worksheet,
you
are free to manipulate the data in any way you wish. You can update
the Money data in your worksheet so that you have the latest
information from your Money file. To do so, select Data, Refresh Money
Data to update the current selection of data, or select Data, Refresh
All Money Data to update all of the data in the worksheet. Note that
when you refresh your worksheet, your existing Money data will be
overwritten by this latest information.
----------------------------------------------
THE SHOPPER'S LITTLE HELPER--PART 1 OF 4
With the holiday season entering full swing, you'll be happy to
hear
that Microsoft Money can help you keep a hold on your wallet during
this hectic period. In the next series of tips, we'll show you how to
use Money to organize and monitor your holiday spending.
First, create a category named Holiday that you can assign to each
of
your...that's right: holiday purchases. Select Categories from the
Navigation bar, and click on Categories. Click the New button located
at the bottom of the Category List window. Select Create A New
Category and click Next. Enter Holiday in the Name field, select
Expense as the Category type, and click Next. Select Other Expense as
the Category Group and click Finish.
Now, whenever you purchase a gift, enter the transaction as you
normally would in your check register. In the Category field, select
Holiday.
----------------------------------------------
THE SHOPPER'S LITTLE HELPER--PART 2 OF 4
In our last tip, we showed you how to create a category named
Holiday
that you can use to track your holiday spending. To keep even better
holiday records, take advantage of the Memo field to record specific
information, such as a description of the gift or the name of the
intended recipient. By doing so, you can easily determine for whom you
have purchased a gift and who still needs one; you can also check back
later to see if that weed-eater you got from your uncle cost as much
as the Rolling Stones box set you got for him.
----------------------------------------------
THE SHOPPER'S LITTLE HELPER--PART 3 OF 4
In our last two tips we've shown you how to use Money's Category
and
Memo fields to keep better track your holiday purchases. In this tip,
we'll show you how to produce a quick checklist of all the holiday
items you have purchased to date.
To run a quick status report on your purchases, select Reports from
the Navigation bar and select Spending Habits. From the Report & Chart
Gallery, select Category Spending, then select Holiday from the
Categories list box and double-click on it to generate your report (or
you can click on Go To Report/Chart at the bottom of the window). To
include the information you've recorded in the Memo field--which would
not be included in this report by default--click the Customize button
at the bottom of the Reports window and select Memo in the Include
Fields section of the Customize Report dialog box. Click OK.
Money generates a list of all of the transactions currently
assigned
to the Holiday category. Armed with this list, you can see who you've
purchased gifts for and get a running balance of the overall amount of
money you've spent to date.
----------------------------------------------
THE SHOPPER'S LITTLE HELPER--PART 4 OF 4
Another way to produce a quick Holiday Spending Report is to use
the
Edit Go To Category command. When you select this command, Money
produces a page that is simply chock-full of information. This
information includes specific category Details, a bar chart that
portrays the last few months of category spending, as well as a full
listing of all of the transactions currently assigned to the Holiday
category. It really is a one-stop shop to review all holiday-related
transactions. To produce this page, select any transaction in your
check register currently assigned to the Holiday category, and then
select Edit, Go To Category: Holiday.
----------------------------------------------
DON'T OVERSPEND THIS HOLIDAY SEASON--PART 1 OF 2
In our last series of tips, we showed you how to use Money's
category
feature to help you keep track of your gift spending during the
holiday season. Now let's say that you've allocated a certain amount
of money to spend on the holidays this year and you want to make sure
you stick to your budget. In this tip we'll show you how to set up a
Holiday account where you budget in the money you've allocated to
spend. Then, as you make purchases, you will enter them as withdrawals
in the account. To accomplish this, we'll be using the Credit Card
account type, since you are, in effect, "loaning" yourself the cash to
make your holiday purchases.
To create a Holiday spending account, select Accounts from the
Navigation bar and click the Account Manager button. Then, click the
New Account button located at the bottom of the Account Manager
window. Select Not Held At Bank, Brokerage, Or Other Financial
Institution and click Next. Select Credit Card as the Account Type and
click Next. Enter a name for the account, such as Holidays 99, and
click Next. Enter the amount of cash you have allocated to yourself in
the How Much Do You Owe On This Credit Card field and click Next.
Select Charge Card as the account type and click Next three times. In
the New Account/Add To Bill Calendar window, deselect the option
labeled Yes, Remind Me When The Bill Is Due and click Finish to create
the account.
In our next tip we'll show you how to record your purchases in your
Holiday Credit Account.
----------------------------------------------
DON'T OVERSPEND THIS HOLIDAY SEASON--PART 2 OF 2
In our last tip, we showed you how to create a holiday "budget"
account to set an overall limit for your holiday spending. When you're
ready to record a gift purchase in your holiday credit account, enter
the transaction in your check register as you normally would. Then,
when you get to the Category field, select the name of your holiday
credit card account to transfer the payment to that account. The
amount you spent is recorded as a payment in your check register and
is also recorded as a payment in your holiday credit account. This, in
effect, lowers your Holiday credit card account balance by the amount
of the purchase. When the account balance reaches zero, it means that
you're out of money to spend on gifts.
Please note that since we are using a credit card account in this
scenario, any reports you generate will include this balance as a
liability. At the end of the holiday season, make sure you close out
the account, or reduce the debt to zero so that Money no longer holds
you accountable for the debt.
----------------------------------------------
START A HOLIDAY SAVINGS CLUB
Are you flabbergasted at how much you've spent on Pokemon, Star
Wars
toys, and Chia Pets this holiday season? Plan for next year by
starting a Holiday Savings Club now. Then, throughout the course of
the upcoming year, each time you have a little extra cash, transfer
the surplus to your Holiday Savings Club; by next season you'll be
sure to have plenty of money to buy enough of The New Millennium's
Next Big Thing to go around.
To create a Holiday Savings Account, select Accounts from the
Navigation bar and click the Account Manager button. Then, click the
New Account button located at the bottom of the Account Manager
window. Select Not Held At Bank, Brokerage, Or Other Financial
Institution and click Next. Select Savings from the list of account
types and click Next. Enter a name for the account, such as Holidays
2000, and click Next. Click Finish to complete the account setup.
Throughout the year, as you glean a little extra cash from your
budget, transfer it to your Holiday savings account. To do so, start
in your check register. Create a new transaction for the cash surplus
and enter Holiday Savings Club (or something similar) in the payee
field. Enter the amount to transfer in the payment field and then
enter the name of the holiday savings account in the Category field to
transfer the cash. Keep in mind that we are merely funneling available
cash from one account to another, you'll have to make sure you
actually have the cash on hand when the next holiday season rolls
around.
----------------------------------------------
MICROSOFT MONEY AND Y2K
The countdown is on--only 22 days till Y2K. Are you ready? From the
perspective of Microsoft Money, you can rest assured that your data
will be intact when the big rollover occurs, at least according to
Microsoft. You can check out what Microsoft has to say about its
Y2K-readiness and other issues by logging on to its official Year 2000
Web site. Point your browser to:
http://computingcentral.msn.com/guide/year2000
----------------------------------------------
THE OFFICIAL WORD ON Y2K
In addition to Microsoft's own Y2K Web site, there are a number of
sites devoted to software issues for the new millennium. Here are a
just a few of the hundreds of Web sites available:
*http://www.y2kbase.com--Provides Y2K compliance information for
consumers on a large range of industries and products.
*http://www.consumer.gov/y2k--Offers a wealth of information on Y2K
from government and non-government sources.
*http://www.y2k.gov--The President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion.
*http://www.y2k.com--Fairly thorough guide from CNet. Contains links
to other Y2K Web sites, Y2K software downloads, plus a host of other
links.
----------------------------------------------
GETTING READY FOR Y2K--PART 1 OF 2
For the most part, the official take on potential problems
associated
with Y2K is that you should prepare for it as you would a long holiday
weekend or powerful storm. That is, make sure you have the necessities
to get you through a couple of days, just in case there are some foul
ups caused by computer-related glitches. For instance, you'll want to
make sure you have cash on hand, that your car is gassed up, and that
you have enough water and foodstuffs to last a few days. You might
also want to stockpile firewood or other heating and cooking fuel, and
make sure your flashlights are in good working order and that you have
extra batteries and candles as backup.
As far as your finances go, you should make copies of your bank and
financial statements, extra copies of bills, and records of your
investment accounts, and the like. You'll also want to keep copies of
medical records or prescriptions, just to be safe.
----------------------------------------------
GETTING READY FOR Y2K--PART 2 OF 2
In Microsoft Money, there are a few reports you should print so
that
you have hard copy proof of your financial records as a safety
measure, in case Y2K really does spell trouble. The first such report
contains all of the details of an account, including the balance,
account number, and financial institution. The second report lists all
of the transactions you have recorded in all of your accounts.
To print the Account Details report, select Reports from the
Navigation bar and click on What I Have. Next, select Account Details
from the Report & Chart Gallery and click the Go To Report/Chart
button at the bottom of the screen. The resulting report lists all of
the account details. Unfortunately, it does not include contact
information, so you may want to jot this down on the report yourself.
To print a listing of all of the transactions you have recorded to
date, select Reports from the Navigation bar and click on Spending
Habits. Next, select Account Transactions from the Report & Chart
Gallery, select All Accounts in the Accounts field, and All To Date in
the Date Range field. Finally, click the Go To Report/Chart button at
the bottom of the screen.
----------------------------------------------
BACK UP YOUR MONEY FILE
As another safeguard against potential Y2K mishaps, back up your
Money
file. Of course, you should be doing this at the end of every month
and every year, regardless of the new millennium/Y2K thing.
To make a backup copy of your Money file, first place a blank,
formatted floppy disk in your floppy drive. Next, select File, Back Up
to start the backup procedure. Indicate where you will be storing the
backup file, either to a floppy disk or your hard disk, and click OK.
Then click the Back Up Now button to start the procedure. Be sure to
keep your backup disk in a safe location.
----------------------------------------------
AUTOMATIC TRANSFERS--PART 1 OF 2
Money's Bills & Deposits feature is a real time saver when it comes
to
automating bill payments. You simply set up the specifics of the bill
payment once and then record the payment in your check register each
time the bill is due. But did you know that you can also automate
account transfers? For instance, you can automate a monthly transfer
of $100 from your checking account to your savings account.
To do so, select Bills from the Navigation bar and then click Set
Up
Bills & Deposits. Click the New button at the bottom of the window. In
the resulting dialog box, select Transfer and click Next. Select More
Than Once, At Regular Intervals, indicate the frequency, and click
Next. Select Other as the Payment Method and click Next. In the
resulting screen, indicate whether the transfer amount will vary each
time. If it does, enter the estimated amount. Click Next. Enter the
details of the transfer. In this case, enter the account from which
the transfer originates, enter the account in which the transfer
should be deposited, enter the date on which the first transfer will
occur, enter the amount of the transfer, and click Finish.
----------------------------------------------
AUTOMATIC TRANSFERS--PART 2 OF 2
In our last tip, we showed you how to schedule a transfer between
two
accounts, say between your checking and savings accounts. To transfer
the scheduled amount, select Bills from the Navigation bar and then
click on Pay Bills. Next, locate the next scheduled transfer in the
Upcoming Bills & Deposits list and click the Record Transfer button.
In the resulting Record Transfer dialog box, review the details of the
transfer and then click Record Transfer to transfer the funds.
If you prefer, you can set up the account transfer so that it
happens
automatically. That is, on a specified date, Money will go ahead and
subtract the funds from the originating account and enter it directly
into the record of the source account. If necessary, select Bills from
the Navigation bar and then click on Set Up Bills & Deposits. Next,
select the Transfer you just created from the Scheduled Transfers
portion of the list. Click the Edit Details button and then click the
Scheduling Options button. Select Enter This Into My Account
Automatically and click OK. Now, Money will automatically transfer a
record of the funds on the specified date.
----------------------------------------------
WHAT'S YOUR NET WORTH? PART 1 OF 2
As 1999 draws to a close, it's time to start planning for the new
year--and the new millennium. Maybe 2000 will be the year you buy that
new house, or you finally quit your job and strike out on your own.
Before you make any life decisions though, the first thing you need to
do is to figure out how much you're worth--better known as your "Net
Worth."
To calculate your net worth, you must determine how much cash you
have
on hand or available to you (known as your assets) and then compare it
with any outstanding debt (known as liabilities). The difference
between these two amounts represents your net worth. Money's Net Worth
report produces just that--a report that compares your assets to your
liabilities.
To calculate your net worth, select Reports from the Navigation
bar,
and select What I Have. Next, select Net Worth from the Report & Chart
Gallery. Click the Go To Report/Chart button located at the bottom of
the screen to generate the report.
The resulting Net Worth report consists of two parts. The Assets
portion contains the balances of all of your bank accounts, other
assets, and investment accounts. The Liabilities section contains the
balances of your credit or charge card accounts as well as any loans
you may already have. The Net Worth calculated at the bottom of the
report then shows you the difference between your assets and your
liabilities. It is this figure, among others, that a bank or lending
institution looks at to determine your viability as a loan candidate.
----------------------------------------------
WHAT'S YOUR NET WORTH? PART 2 OF 2
In our last tip, we introduced Money's Net Worth reporting tool,
which
helps you determine how much you are worth. By default, Money
condenses all of your account information into a single balance. For
instance, all of your bank accounts are summarized and totaled as the
single line item, Bank And Cash Accounts. If you prefer, you can
include the name and balance of each of your individual accounts.
To recalculate your net worth report, select Reports from the
Navigation bar, and select What I Have. Next, select Account Balances
from the Report & Chart Gallery and click the Go To Report/Chart
button to generate the report.
----------------------------------------------
BOOST YOUR NET WORTH
Before you become too discouraged with a low net worth, how about
taking a closer look at your possessions to determine if you can
assume them as assets. For instance, even if you currently have a car
loan, you can add the present value of your car (minus the loan
balance of course) to your net worth report as an asset. To obtain the
car's current worth, either get the blue book value from your insurer
or simply enter what you think the car is reasonably worth. You can
also create asset accounts for any land you may own, or any jewels you
may have. Basically, you want to be sure to include in your report any
items that could potentially lead to additional cash.
To add your car (or other item) as an asset, select Accounts from
the
Navigation bar, click the Account Manager button, and then click the
New Account button located at the bottom of the Account Manager
screen. Select Not Held At Bank, Brokerage, Or Other Financial
Institution and click Next. Select Asset from the list of account
types and click Next. Enter a name for the account, such as My Car,
enter the date that you acquired the asset, and click Next. Enter the
asset's current value and click Next. Select No and then click Finish
to complete the account setup.
To recalculate your net worth, select Reports from the Navigation
bar,
and select What I Have. Next, select Net Worth from the Report & Chart
Gallery. Finally, click the Go To Report/Chart button located at the
bottom of the screen to generate the report.
----------------------------------------------
UPDATE THE VALUE OF AN ASSET
In our last tip, we showed you how to create an asset account for a
possession. In this tip we'll show you how to update the value of an
asset. For instance, let's say you had your Grandmother's brooch
reappraised and it is now worth a lot more than you initially
recorded. Or maybe you were in a car accident and you now need to
decrease the value of your car.
To update the value of an asset, select Accounts from the
Navigation
bar, click the Accounts button, and then select the name of the asset
account. Next, enter the adjusted amount in the appropriate column.
For instance, if you are entering a decrease in value, enter the
amount of the decrease in the Decrease column. You'll also be required
to supply a category for the value adjustment. Note that the current
value balance at the bottom of the register window is recalculated
accordingly.
----------------------------------------------
YOUR NAME IN LIGHTS
Remember when you first started using Money and you were required
to
supply personal information, including your name? Well if you'd rather
not have your name displayed at the top of the Financial Home Page for
all of the world to see, you'll be happy to know that you can simply
remove it. To do so, select Tools, Options, and click the Money Home
tab. Then select the option labeled Don't Show My Name On Money Home.
Click OK when you have finished.
----------------------------------------------
CLEANING HOUSE--PART 1 OF 2
As 1999 draws to a close, it's time to start preparing for the New
Year. Just as you rid your home of unwanted objects so that you can
store up new things gathered during the year ahead, it makes sense to
clean house with Money as well. So, before we begin a new year with
Money, take the time now to remove any items that you no longer need,
such as bills or deposits that that may be associated with the current
year only, or payees that you no longer plan on using.
To remove a scheduled bill or deposit, select Bills from the
Navigation bar and then select Set Up Bills And Deposits. From the
Recurring Bills And Deposits list, select the item to delete, and then
click the Delete button. In the resulting dialog box, click Yes to
confirm the deletion of all remaining unrecorded transactions.
To delete a payee, select Categories from the Navigation bar, and
then
click on Payees. From the Lists window, select the payee you no longer
need and click the Delete button. In the resulting dialog box, click
Yes to confirm the deletion.
Note that deleting these items has no effect on any existing
transactions.
----------------------------------------------
CLEANING HOUSE--PART 2 OF 2
Another housekeeping task you may want to perform to prepare your
Money file for the new year is that of removing accounts that you no
longer use. For instance, if you paid off a car loan this year, you'll
want to close out the account associated with that loan. Likewise, if
you cleaned out an existing savings account, you should also close the
record of this account as well, so that Money does not refer to the
account any further. For the most part, you should only CLOSE, but
never DELETE an account outright. The reason is that when you delete,
Money removes all references to that account, including existing
transactions. This is definitely something that you don't want to do.
To close an account, select Accounts from the Navigation bar and
then
click the Account Manager button. Select the name of the account you
want to close from the Account Manager. Then select Edit, Account Is
Closed. Money places a small red x across the account name to indicate
that the account is closed.
----------------------------------------------
END OF THE YEAR REPORT
In this series of tips, we've been sharing a few housekeeping
secrets
in an effort to help you prepare your finances for the new year. In
this tip, we'll show you how to modify one of Money's existing
reports, the Monthly Cash Flow report--so that you can determine how
you might modify your spending habits for the brand new year ahead. In
our version, you can view all of your income and expense transactions
for the previous 12 months in a very simple columnar format. The
report should give you a good sense of exactly where your money comes
from and where it ends up on a monthly basis. You can use the results
of this report to help you plan your savings strategy for next year.
To create the modified monthly cash flow report, select Reports
from
the Navigation bar, and then select Spending Habits. From the Report &
Chart Gallery select Monthly Cash Flow and then click the Customize
button. First, make sure the Rows & Columns tab is selected and then
choose Categories from the Rows field. Select Don't Include Transfers
in the Transfers section and then click the Date tab. Select Last 12
Months in the Range field and click OK. Finally, click the Go To
Report/Chart button at the bottom of the Report & Chart Gallery to
generate the report.
----------------------------------------------
REMOVING EXCESS BAGGAGE, PART 1 OF 2
Have you found that your Money file has just gotten too big to
handle
and that you'd rather not have to scroll through check payments
recorded since 1996 in your check register? Why not relegate past
years' data to a separate file? By doing so, you create a safe archive
for your old data and you can be confident that your current file
won't get too large as you begin entering data for the new year.
A large file could cause some problems down the road, particularly
when you use the Backup command to back up your data. Large files can
also affect the performance of your Money session when you create
reports or use the Find command to locate transactions. Keep in mind,
however, that once you archive old data, you won't be able to refer to
it since it will no longer exist in the current file!
Before we show you how to archive your file, we need to explain a
few
things. First, when you archive a file, Money creates a new copy of
the file, leaving your current file intact for the time being. The
newly copied file is then stored on your disk as the archived file.
Now, when you archive, Money will be removing old transactions from
your CURRENT working file.
We know, it gets a little confusing. To be on the safe side, use
the
File, Backup command to create a fresh backup copy of your current
file before you go ahead and archive your data.
In tomorrow's tip, we'll show you how to archive that data.
----------------------------------------------
REMOVING EXCESS BAGGAGE, PART 2 OF 2
In our last tip, we talked about how Money's archive feature can
help
trim down a bloated file. In this tip, we'll show you how to do it. To
create the archive file, select File, Archive. In the resulting dialog
box, enter the date from which you wish to remove transactions in the
Remove Transactions From The Current File That Are Dated Before field.
For instance, to remove all transactions prior to 1999, enter 1/1/99.
If you want to start with a clean slate altogether, leave the date set
to 1/1/2000. Click OK. (Note that Money automatically enters the first
day of the current year for you. ) Enter a name for the archive file,
for instance, 1999data, and click OK to generate the archive file.
At this point, Money displays the first in a series of dialog boxes
that allow you to specify the types of transactions that you want to
remove from each of your accounts. For instance, you can elect to
remove all transactions from a cash account, but only transactions
that have cleared from a checking account. For the most part, Money
pre-selects the most appropriate choice for each account. Select the
option and click OK for each of your accounts.
When it has finished removing the data, Money returns you to your
current working file,. You will find that it no longer contains any
transactions as you specified. Now, to complete the backup, copy the
archived file from your hard drive onto a floppy and put it in a
secure place.
----------------------------------------------
MONITOR THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME, PART 1 OF 2
As the real estate market continues to thrive, now may be a good
time
to track the value of your home, whether it's your primary residence
or a rental property. You can do this in Money by creating an asset
account and then updating the value on a frequent basis.
To track the value of your home, select Accounts from the
Navigation
bar, click the Account Manager button, and then click the New Account
button located at the bottom of the Account Manager screen. Select Not
Held At Bank, Brokerage, Or Other Financial Institution and click
Next. Select Asset from the list of account types and click Next.
Enter a name for the account, such as My House or 1122 Main Street,
enter the date you purchased your home, and then click Next. Enter
your home's current value, or the amount you paid for your home, and
click Next. Select No and then click Finish to complete the account
setup.
----------------------------------------------
MONITOR THE VALUE OF YOUR HOME, PART 2 OF 2
In the last tip, we showed you how to create an asset account to
track
the value of your biggest asset: your home. (Select Account, Account
Manager, and New Account; then select "Not Held At
Brokerage...Institution" and click Next, Asset, and Next. Follow along
to name the account and plug in the pertinent data regarding the
purchase of your home.) In this tip, we'll show you how to update the
value of your asset account. Say for instance, you recently had your
home appraised.
To update the asset account to reflect your home's current value,
select Accounts from the Navigation bar, click the Accounts button,
and then select the name of the asset account. Next, enter the
adjusted amount in the appropriate column. For instance, if you are
recording a decrease in your home's value, enter the amount in the
Decrease column. The new updated balance appears in the Balance column
and the Current Value amount at the bottom of the register window is
recalculated accordingly.
----------------------------------------------
TRACK YOUR HOME MORTGAGE
In addition to tracking the value of your home with an asset
account,
you'll also want to use Money to set up an account for keeping track
of your mortgage payments. By creating a mortgage account, you can
record the payments you've made and see how much interest you've paid
out. Before you begin, make sure you have either your original loan
documents handy or a recent copy of your mortgage statement.
To create a mortgage account, select Accounts from the Navigation
bar,
click the Account Manager button, and then click the New Account
button located at the bottom of the Account Manager screen. Select Not
Held At Bank, Brokerage, Or Other Financial Institution and click
Next. Select Mortgage from the list of account types and click Next.
Follow along with the on-screen prompts to provide the necessary loan
information. For instance, you'll be prompted to enter a name for the
account, such as My House or 1122 Main Street, the date you purchased
your home, and the amount you paid for your home.
Note that when you create the mortgage account, the amount of your
mortgage payment is automatically recorded as a recurring payment in
the Bills & Deposits area.
----------------------------------------------
ASSOCIATING YOUR HOME WITH A MORTGAGE
Once you've set up an asset account for your home and a mortgage
account, you can do things like calculate the amount of equity you own
in your home. The equity is basically the current market value of the
property less the amount you still owe on your mortgage. Money can
automatically calculate your home's equity on a monthly basis for you.
But first you need to associate your mortgage account with the asset
account.
To associate a loan with an asset (in this case, your mortgage with
your home), select Accounts from the Navigation bar and then click the
Account Manager button. Next, double-click the asset account created
for your home and then select Details. Click the Add Association
button, select your mortgage account from the drop-down list, and then
click OK. Next, select Register to switch back to the asset account
register. If necessary, click the View button and select Enter
Transactions Directly Into Register. When you do, the Total Equity
figure is displayed in the bottom left corner of the asset account
register.
----------------------------------------------
MAKING A MORTGAGE PAYMENT
Now that you've created an account to keep track of your mortgage
payments, you have a couple of options for recording your payments.
You can either record the mortgage payment directly in your check
register or do it from the Bills & Deposits area. Either way, Money
records the payment in both the check register and the Bills &
Deposits area as well as in the mortgage account register.
To record a mortgage payment directly in the check register, enter
the
transaction as you normally would. But, in the Category field, scroll
down to the bottom of the list and select Loan Payment: Account Name,
where account name is the name of your mortgage account. Press Enter
to record the transaction. When you do, Money displays a prompt asking
you if you want to mark it as paid in the Bills Calendar. Click Yes to
do so.
To record a mortgage payment from the Bills & Deposits area, select
Bills from the Navigation bar and click Pay Bills. Select the next
instance of your mortgage payment from the Upcoming Bills & Deposits
list and click Record Payment. In the Record Payment dialog box, enter
the check number and click Record Payment.
----------------------------------------------
CREATE A LOAN AMORTIZATION TABLE, PART 1 OF 2
In this series of tips, we've shown you how to create a loan
account
to keep track of your mortgage. One of the more useful loan-related
features in Money is that you can also generate an amortization table.
An amortization table is basically a payment schedule that lists all
of your payments for the full term of the loan. The table splits up
each payment to show how much is paid toward interest and how much
pays down the principal balance. The amortization schedule is a handy
tool to have if you are ever curious about any of the payments or
balance information relayed to you by your mortgage provider.
To generate the amortization schedule, select Reports from the
Navigation bar, select What I Owe, and then select Loan Amortization.
In the Accounts field at the bottom of the screen, select the name of
your mortgage account, and then click the Go To Report/Chart button.
As you can see, Money generates a listing which shows all of your
payments, right up to the final payment due.
----------------------------------------------
CREATE A LOAN AMORTIZATION TABLE, PART 2 OF 2
In the last tip, we showed you how to generate a loan amortization
schedule. By default, Money only includes outstanding payments in the
amortization schedule. That is, it does not include payments that have
already made. If you prefer, you can include all payments in the
schedule so that you can view your entire schedule from the very first
payment. To do so, select Reports from the Navigation bar, select What
I Owe, and then select Loan Amortization. In the Accounts field at the
bottom of the screen, select the name of your mortgage account, and
then click the Customize button. Select Account Register from the
Include Transactions From section on the Rows & Columns tab and click
OK.
----------------------------------------------
PRINT THE LOAN AMORTIZATION SCHEDULE
In our last two tips we showed you how to generate a loan
amortization
schedule. Here, we'll show you how to print out the amortization
schedule so that you always have a hard copy handy. To print a loan
amortization schedule, select Reports from the Navigation bar, select
What I Owe, and then select Loan Amortization. In the Accounts field
at the bottom of the screen, select the name of the mortgage account,
and then click the Go To Report/Chart button. Finally, select File,
Print and then click OK.
----------------------------------------------
PAYING A BILL AHEAD OF SCHEDULE
It happens right? You've come into a small monetary windfall and
you
want to pay a bill ahead of schedule. Or maybe you're heading off for
a month-long vacation and you want to pay your bills before you go.
Whatever the reason, you can easily prepay a scheduled bill, and
record it as such in Money without affecting future payments.
To record prepayment of a scheduled bill, select Bills from the
Navigation bar and then select Pay Bills. From the Upcoming Bills And
Payments list, select the bill you want to prepay and click the Record
Payment button. In the resulting Record Payment dialog box, change the
Date field to reflect the current date and then click Record Payment.
The transaction is recorded in your register as usual. Note that the
transaction's next payment date stays fixed at the originally
established scheduled date.
----------------------------------------------
GET YOUR BILLS IN ORDER WITH THE BILL CALENDAR
If you're the visual type, Money's Bill Calendar can be a real
time-saver when it comes to managing your finances. With the Bill
Calendar, you can instantly view pending bills and deposits as well as
those transactions that have already been recorded in your accounts.
If you prefer, you can even use the Bill Calendar to record each of
your bill and deposit transactions, so you won't have to fumble around
in all of your different account registers.
To use the Bill Calendar, select Bills from the Navigation bar and
then click Bill Calendar. Double-click the date in question, and then
select the bill you wish to pay or the deposit you want to record.
Then click Record Payment or Record Deposit as necessary. Click Close
when you are finished. Money records the transactions in the
appropriate account registers
----------------------------------------------
A QUICK LIST OF UPCOMING BILLS
One of the useful features in the Bills & Deposits area is the
Recently Paid Bills option, which shows you all of the bills you have
paid in the past month or so. You can also generate a report of all
upcoming bills which will tell you at a glance what bills are due.
To create the Upcoming Bills report, select Reports from the
Navigation bar and then click What I Owe. Select Upcoming Bills for a
listing of all of the bills that are due. You can customize it so that
it only shows bills that are due for the current month. To do so,
click the Customize button, select the Date tab, and then select
Current Month in the Range field. Click OK when you are done.
----------------------------------------------
DON'T FORGET THOSE INFREQUENT BILLS
For most of us, bills that occur regularly are fairly easy to
anticipate, and therefore, easy to remember. It's those other bills
that only come due a few times a year, such as real estate taxes, that
can easily slip through the cracks. Fortunately, Money's Bills &
Deposits area can help you keep track of these infrequent bills as
well.
Here's what you do: select Bills from the Navigation bar and click
Set
Up Bills & Deposits. Click the New button located at the bottom of the
Recurring Bills & Deposits screen. In the Create New Scheduled
Transaction dialog box, select Bill and click Next. Select More Than
Once, At Regular Intervals and then select Every Three Months in the
Frequency field and click Next. Select Write Check as the payment
method and click Next. If the payment amount is the same each time
around, select Yes, it's typically the same amount. Otherwise, select
No, the amount usually varies, and then enter the figure in the
estimated amount field. Click Next. If you want to record a payment,
answer accordingly and then click Finish to complete the new scheduled
payment setup.
----------------------------------------------
THE ACCOUNT BALANCES BUTTON
As you peruse the transactions in the Upcoming Bills & Deposits
list
you may be wondering if you have enough funds to cover a payment, or
maybe you'd just like to see how much cash you have on hand in a
specific account. The Account Balances button located in the bottom
left corner of the Upcoming Bills & Deposits screen quickly lets you
know how much you have in all of your accounts. Simply click the
Account Balances button to display the Current Account Balances dialog
box. Here you'll find a listing of all of your current accounts and
their balances. Click Close when you have finished.
----------------------------------------------
WHAT'S WITH THE TILDE ANYWAY?
While we're on the subject of the Bills & Deposits area, you have
probably noticed that little curvy line, known as the tilde, that
appears in the amount column. If you have, it means that the amount
specified for the current transaction is an estimate only. It's just a
friendly reminder that these amounts are not set in stone and that
your account balance may vary.
----------------------------------------------
A PAYEE INFORMATION LIST
In the past, we've told you how Money automatically records the
specifics of a transaction, such as the Pay To information, for future
use. We've also suggested that you record as much information as you
can for each specific Payee, such as account number and a contact
phone number, so you don't have to fish around for it when you need to
make a call or write a check. In this tip, we'll show you how you can
quickly refer to this contact information.
To see the current list of memorized payees, select Categories from
the Navigation bar and then select Payees. The resulting list displays
all of your memorized payees. You can switch this view so that you can
see additional information, such as the phone numbers or account
numbers, as well. To do so, click the View button located just above
the list and then select the appropriate options, such as Payees,
Phone Numbers, and Account Numbers.
If you like, you can print a copy of this list so that you have a
hard
copy to refer to. That way, you won't have to load up Money just to
locate this information. To print the Payee list, just select File,
Print, and then click OK.
----------------------------------------------
TRACKING A CAR LOAN
Just as you can use Money to help keep your home mortgage payments
in
order, you can also create an account to keep track of your car loan
and your car payments. Before you begin, make sure you have the proper
loan documents handy so that you can refer to the required
information.
To create a car loan account, select Accounts from the Navigation
bar,
click the Account Manager button, and then click the New Account
button located at the bottom of the Account Manager screen. Select Not
Held At Bank, Brokerage, Or Other Financial Institution and click
Next. Select Loan from the list of account types and click Next.
Follow along with the on-screen prompts to provide the necessary loan
information. For instance, you'll be prompted to enter, among other
things, a name for the account, the payee to whom you will be making
the payments, the due date of the first payment, and the amount you
paid for your car plus the finance rate. When you have supplied all of
the appropriate information click Finish to complete the account
setup.
----------------------------------------------
MAKING A CAR PAYMENT
In our last tip, we showed you how to create a loan account to help
you keep track of your car loan. In this tip, we'll show you how to
record your car payments. You can record the car payment directly in
your check register or record the payment from the Bills & Deposits
area.
To record a car payment directly in the check register, enter the
transaction as you normally would. But, in the Category field, scroll
down to the bottom of the list and select Loan Payment: Account Name,
where account name is the name of your car loan. Press Enter to record
the transaction. When you do, Money displays a dialog box asking you
if you want to mark it as paid in the Bills Calendar. Click Yes to do
so. To record an auto loan payment from the Bills & Deposits area,
select Bills from the Navigation bar and click Pay Bills. Select the
next instance of your car payment from the Upcoming Bills & Deposits
list and click Record Payment. In the Record Payment dialog box, enter
the check number and click Record Payment.
----------------------------------------------
ORGANIZE IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, PART 1 OF 2
Did you know that in addition to helping you organize your
expenses,
Money can also help you keep track of all of your important documents?
You know those papers you currently have stuffed into the shoebox
under your bed? The Important Records Organizer provides a single
place in which to keep an accurate description of--and location
information for--all of your important documents, such as wills,
insurance premiums, and loan information.
To use the Important Records Organizer, select Tools, Important
Records Organizer. To begin recording information, select the
appropriate category from the listing displayed along the left side of
the screen--Emergency Records, for instance--and then fill in the
requested information. Use the Previous and Next buttons to move
between each section, or you can simply click on a category name.
Continue with these steps to enter all of the information you'd like
to record.
----------------------------------------------
ORGANIZE IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS, PART 2 OF 2
In our last tip, we introduced the Important Records Organizer; it
is
an area in Money that helps you keep track of information about your
important documents. Once you have entered all of the appropriate data
into the Organizer, you can print out a hard copy for safe keeping.
Don't rely solely on your PC to store this information.
The Summary screen is the last section of the Important Records
Organizer and displays just that, a summary of all of the information
you've just entered. You can print out a copy of the Summary screen,
but it's a bit tricky. But that's what we're here for, right? To print
the Summary, select File, Print and select As Laid Out On Screen in
the Print Frames section of the Print dialog box. Finally, click OK to
print.
----------------------------------------------
GRAPH YOUR MONTHLY EXPENSES, PART 1 OF 2
Are you curious about how much you spend on items such as groceries
and dry cleaning throughout the year? If so, here's a quick way to see
how these expenses stack up on a monthly basis. First, select any
transaction in your check register that contains the category or payee
you want to track and click the right mouse button. From the resulting
shortcut menu, select Go To Payee: Payee Name or Go To Categories:
Category Name. In the resulting screen, you'll find a bar graph in the
upper right corner that shows you how much you've spent on that
category or payee for the past few months.
----------------------------------------------
GRAPH YOUR MONTHLY EXPENSES, PART 2 OF 2
In our last tip, we showed you how to quickly determine how the
amount
you spend on a given expense varies from month to month. In this tip,
we'll show you how to get a closer look at your monthly expenses.
To recap, in your check register, select a transaction that
contains
the category or payee you want to track, and then right-click on it.
>From the resulting shortcut menu, select Go To Categories: Category
Name or Go To Payee: Payee Name. In the resulting screen, a bar graph
displayed in the upper right corner shows you how much you've spent on
that category or payee. To view data for additional months,
right-click the bar graph and select Zoom from the resulting shortcut
menu. This action brings you to the Reports & Charts gallery, which
allows you to view and customize the expense graph. Click the
Customize button at the bottom of the screen and then select the Date
tab. In the Date Range field, select the appropriate range, such as
Last 12 Months, and click OK. The report is then redrawn to include
the information you specified.
----------------------------------------------
SPRUCE UP YOUR REPORTS, PART 1 OF 2
Money typically generates standard-looking reports. That is, Money
uses a very basic font typeface and size for the text. If you want to
spruce up your reports a bit--like maybe change the font to a more
interesting choice--you can.
To change the font on a new report, select Reports from the
Navigation
bar and then select the appropriate report from the Reports & Charts
gallery. If you want to change an existing report, select Favorites,
Favorite Reports, and then the report name from the resulting menu.
Next, click the Customize button at the bottom of the Report window
and select the Fonts tab from the resulting Customize Reports dialog
box. Select the Font typeface you want to use and then select the font
size as necessary. Click OK when you are done.
Caution: Choosing an extremely fancy font or altering the font size
too much could make the data difficult to read.
----------------------------------------------
SPRUCE UP YOUR REPORTS, PART 2 OF 2
Just as you can change the font settings used in your Money
reports,
you can also adjust column widths as necessary. By default, the column
widths in the reports you create will automatically adjust to fit the
data that is contained within them. You can also change the width of
these columns manually, which can be useful if, for example, you are
trying to print a report that is too wide for a single page.
To change the column widths, select Reports from the Navigation bar
and then select the appropriate report from the Reports & Charts
gallery. Next, click the Customize button at the bottom of the Report
window and select the Fonts tab from the resulting Customize Reports
dialog box. In the Report Column Widths field, select the appropriate
column width setting. You may want to experiment a bit with the
different choices to see which works best with your data. Click OK
when you are done.
----------------------------------------------
THE TAXMAN COMETH
Well folks, like it or not, tax season is now under way. With just
over two months to go, it's time to start preparing your financial
statements (and gathering receipts) to send off to your accountant.
Fortunately, Money can be a big help in the tax department. While you
were recording transactions during the year, Money was busy flagging
items as tax-related based on the categories you assigned to those
transactions. When you want it, Money can quickly pull together all
the tax-related information you need.
The first thing to do to get ready for doing your taxes is to
generate
a report that includes all of the tax-related items in your registers.
Select Reports from the Navigation bar and then select Taxes from the
Reports & Charts list. Next, select Tax-Related Transactions from the
Reports & Chart gallery. In the Date Range field at the bottom of the
screen, select Previous Year, and then click Go To Report/Chart to
generate the report.
The resulting report displays a listing of all tax-related
transactions found in your Money accounts. Take a close look at this
report to make sure it includes all of the appropriate taxable
transactions.
----------------------------------------------
ADJUSTING THE TAX REPORT'S DATA
In our last tip, we showed you how to create a report of all
tax-related transactions in your registers. In this tax-related
transactions report, Money lists every last transaction it finds and
displays each one by category and by subcategory, if necessary. If you
like, you can choose to display just the summary data in your report,
so that you needn't be bogged down by all the transactions.
To display only summary information, select Reports from the
Navigation bar and then select Taxes from the Reports & Charts list.
Select Tax-Related Transactions from the Reports & Chart gallery,
select Previous Year in the Date Range field, and then click Go To
Report/Chart. Next, click the Customize button, and select the Rows &
Columns tab if necessary. Select Subcategories in the Rows field,
Total Only in the Columns field, and then select Tax Summary in the
Report Type section. Click OK. Now the report simply lists subtotals
by category and then displays the grand total. Much more civilized,
wouldn't you say?
----------------------------------------------
ADDING CATEGORIES TO TAX REPORTS, PART 1 OF 2
In the last few tips, we've talked about ways that Money's Category
feature comes to the rescue at tax time. As you know, categories are a
crucial element in preparing for tax season. Money keeps track of
taxable items by assigning many of its categories to a particular tax
schedule. Then, when the time comes to generate reports, Money uses
those taxable categories to mark an item as tax-related and then pulls
together the information it needs. In this tip, we'll show you how to
mark a category as tax-related. You may need to do this to a category
you've created or to any existing categories you've modified.
To mark a category as tax-related, select Categories from the
Navigation bar and then select Set Up Tax Categories (or select Tools,
Set Up Tax Categories). In the displayed Category list, all items that
are currently assigned a tax designation contain an x in the Tax
column. From the displayed Category list, select the category you wish
to mark as taxable and select the Include On Tax Reports option
located in the lower portion of the screen.
----------------------------------------------
ADDING CATEGORIES TO TAX REPORTS, PART 2 OF 2
In our last tip, we showed you how to add a tax designation to
categories. If you know which form a transaction will apply to, and
which line on the tax form the taxable item should appear on, Money
allows you to make those designations as well. From the displayed
Category list, select the category and select Include On Tax Reports
if necessary. Then, in the Tax Form field, select the tax form that
should be assigned to the category. In the Form Line field, select the
Form line on which the information should appear.
----------------------------------------------
REMOVE CATEGORIES FROM TAX REPORTS
If you need to remove a tax-related designation from a category,
you
can do that. For instance, if you pay your child-care provider under
the table, (which we are not advocating you do--remember what happened
to Clinton's first several cabinet and judgeship appointees), then
you'll want to exclude the Child Care category from taxation.
To exclude categories from tax reports, select Categories from the
Navigation bar and then select Set Up Tax Categories. From the
displayed Category list, select the category that should not appear on
your reports and deselect the option labeled Include On Tax Reports.
----------------------------------------------
A BIGGER PIECE OF THE PIE
When you want to see where all of your hard-earned cash winds up at
the end of the month, use Money's Where The Money Goes report to find
out. This predefined report displays your expenses in pie chart form.
That is, it shows each expense category as a separate piece of pie,
the size of which is in direct relation to the total of your expenses.
One problem, however, is that you can get some pretty small pieces
of
pie, because Money includes every last category in the chart. To get a
better sense of where your monthly expenses occur, you can combine
some of the smaller pieces of pie into a larger chunk.
To do so, select Reports from the Navigation bar, select Where The
Money Goes from the Report & Chart Gallery, and click Go To
Chart/Report. Next, click the Customize button located at the bottom
of the chart window and click the Rows & Columns tab in the Customize
Report dialog box. In the Combine All Values Under field, enter the
appropriate percentage point you want to use as a cut-off point. For
instance, enter 5 to combine all values that are less than 5 % of the
total into a single piece. Click OK. Money then combines all
appropriate categories into a pie piece labeled All Others.
----------------------------------------------
A FILL-IN-THE-BLANK TAX REPORT
One of the reasons that you assign specific tax forms and form
lines
to your categories is so that Money can prepare your financial data
and export it to a tax preparation software program, such as TurboTax
and TaxCut. But even if you don't plan on exporting your data to such
a report, you'll want to generate the tax software report anyway. This
report can show you which forms and schedules you may need for the
upcoming tax season. And if you are filling out the forms yourself,
you'll appreciate the fact that the report also designates the lines
on the form as well.
To generate the tax software report, select Reports from the
Navigation bar and then select Taxes from the Reports & Charts list.
Next, select Tax Software report from the Reports & Charts gallery. In
the Date Range field at the bottom of the screen, select Previous Year
and then click Go To Report/Chart to generate the report.
----------------------------------------------
ACCOUNT FOR YOUR REPORTS
In our last few tips, we showed you how to use an asset account in
an
unconventional way, namely to keep track of vacation time. Remember,
whenever you use asset accounts, (or any accounts, for that matter),
to keep track of data that is not necessarily financial in nature,
that you'll have to exclude these types of accounts from any monetary
reports you generate, such as a Net Worth.
To remove your non-financial account data from your reports, first
create the report you have in mind, and then click the Customize
button. Select the Accounts tab and then deselect all of the asset
accounts you've used for other purposes.
Remember that you'll have to do this for every report you create.
Or,
you can create a brand new Money file to keep track of only your
non-financial information, (vacation days, sick days, or any other
account that doesn't have any monetary value); that way, you won't
have to worry about it affecting your actual bottom line.
----------------------------------------------
BALANCE YOUR CHECKBOOK, PART 1 OF 4
Once you receive your monthly bank statement, you can begin to
reconcile your Money checking account with your bank statement. To get
started, switch to your checkbook register and click the Balance This
Account link located in the lower left of the register window. When
you do, the Balance Checking dialog box appears. Enter the statement
date, and then enter the starting and ending balances. If necessary,
enter service charge or interest earned amounts, being sure also to
assign the appropriate category. When you are done, click Next.
At this point, the Balance Account screen appears. Along the left
of
this screen you'll find some basic statement information. First, Money
displays the number and amounts of all deposits and payments that have
cleared to date. Below that, Money will calculate the Cleared Balance
and Statement Balance. The Difference balance is the most important
figure, as it shows you whether your electronic account balances with
your bank account. Not to put too fine a point on it, but you'll want
this balance to be as close to zero as possible.
Keep in mind that if you don't stay on top of this reconciliation
process, you'll often find that these amounts don't add up. Don't
worry too much about it, though. As long as the items in your check
register match up with items on your monthly bank statement (and vice
versa), then you can be pretty confident that everything is okay.
----------------------------------------------
BALANCE YOUR CHECKBOOK, PART 2 OF 4
In this series of tips, we're showing you how to reconcile your
Money
check register with your bank statements. Once you start the
reconciliation process by selecting the Balance This Account link in
the lower left of your check register window, you then simply go
through your printed bank statement and locate the corresponding
transactions in your Money register. When you find a matching
transaction, you mark it as cleared. To do this, select the
transaction and then click once in the column labeled C. Continue
doing this until you have cleared all of the appropriate transactions.
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BALANCE YOUR CHECKBOOK, PART 3 OF 4
One of the advantages of working in the Balance Account screen is
that
you can view the transactions as they would appear on your bank
statement--that is, by transaction type. For example, you can switch
to a view that groups all deposits together, then all checks, followed
by all withdrawals. Or, if you prefer, you can choose to view your
transactions in the order in which they were entered or by date or
check number; you decide.
To switch views, click the View button and then select the view
that
suits you best. For instance, select Group Deposits, Then Checks, then
Other Withdrawals.
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BALANCE YOUR CHECKBOOK, PART 4 OF 4
It's bound to happen: a transaction appears on your bank statement
that you failed to enter in your check register. Or maybe the
transaction is there, but you entered the wrong amount or payee
information. Well that's what Money's clever reconciliation feature is
for: to help you make sure that all is well with your check register.
If you need to add a transaction to your check register while you
are
reconciling the account, go to the Balance Account screen and click
the area labeled Click Here To Add Or Edit Transactions. Then, simply
enter the specifics of the transaction as you normally would. When you
are finished, click the area labeled Click Here To Add Or Edit
Transactions again, to switch back to the Balance Account
reconciliation screen.
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BEWARE THE BOUNCING CHECK
When you're reconciling your Money check register with your monthly
bank statements, you'll want to make sure that your
transactions--especially checks you've written or deposited--have
cleared the bank in a timely way. Otherwise, you run the risk of
sending out rubber checks. For instance, say that big check you wrote
to your sister for her birthday two months ago still has not been
cashed; that means that you can't rely on your current bank
statement's ending balance, because that check could be cashed at any
time.
The Pending Transactions section of the Monthly Report shows you if
there are any outstanding transactions that have not yet cleared the
bank. To view this data, click on Reports in the Navigation bar and
then select Monthly Reports. Next, select last month's report. Click
on Potential Problems to skip to the section labeled Potential
Problems With Your Account. The Pending Transactions area shows you
any transactions that have not cleared the bank in over 60 days. You
can click on the link to go to that transaction in the check register
if you need more information.
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CALCULATE A LOAN INTEREST REPORT
If you're a homeowner, you'll also want to generate the Loan
Interest
report that shows the total interest you've paid on a specific loan
for a given period of time. To do so, select Reports from the
Navigation bar and then select Taxes from the Reports & Charts list.
Next, select Loan Interest from the Reports & Chart gallery. In the
Accounts field at the bottom of the screen, select the specific loan
account, then in the Date Range field select Previous Year (or
whatever time period you wish). Finally, click Go To Report/Chart to
generate the report.
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CALCULATE YOUR LIFE EXPECTANCY
Money's Decision Center has a whole slew of calculators that can
help
you determine whether you should buy or rent, how much you need to
save for your child's college education, and whether you should think
about refinancing your home mortgage. But did you know that it also
has a calculator that can help you determine how long you may live?
To see how long you'll be of this earth, according to Money's best
guess anyway, select Decisions from the Navigation bar and then select
Tools. From the Calculators section, select Life Expectancy
Calculator. Enter the appropriate information as requested. Click the
Next and Previous buttons to move between the sections. In the Results
screen, you'll find the magic number. In addition, the calculator will
determine your ideal weight and the three biggest positive factors for
sustaining your life. It also includes the negative factors that will
affect your longevity. This calculator can help you get some control
of your personal life as well as your financial one!
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CALCULATE YOUR TAX BITE
So you've identified all your tax-related transactions and figured
out
if you qualify for any tax deductions. The time has come to see just
how much you'll be sending to Uncle Sam this year, or--cross your
fingers--how much of a refund you can expect. Money's Tax Worksheet
will help you determine whether or not April is the cruelest month.
Remember though, it pays to double-check all of the information
provided by the Tax Worksheet with your accountant or tax advisor.
To determine what your tax implication will be this year, select
Decisions from the Navigation bar and select Tools. In the Worksheets
section of the screen, select Tax Worksheet. Select your Filing
Status, enter the number of dependents, any other deductions for you
and your spouse, and select the year for which you are estimating
taxes. Money plugs all of the related figures from your registers into
the appropriate sections of the worksheet and then calculates the
estimated taxes withheld.
To change an entry, simply type in the value you want to use. You
can
always change your mind and select Use Money's Default to instruct
Money to pull the figure from your existing transactions. At the
bottom of the Tax Estimator screen, Money calculates a number of
values; based on that information, you'll see the specific amount of
any refund you'll get or additional taxes you'll be paying. To view
more details, click the appropriate tab at the top of the estimator
worksheet.
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CAVEAT IMPORT: LET THE IMPORTER BEWARE
In our last tip, we showed you how to use Money's File, Import
command
to import data back into your Money accounts from an archive file.
It's fairly easy to do: select File, Import, specify the name of the
archive file, and then click the Import button. But there are a few
things we thought you should know to have a successful import.
*First, you must import the data back into a named account, which
means that you may have to recreate accounts that you no longer
use--and the downside is that a number of outdated or rarely used
accounts may soon clog up your Account Manager.
*Most important is the fact that Money imports ALL of the
transactions
from your archive file back into the current file, regardless of
whether they exist in the current file or not. The downside of this is
that you may end up with duplicate entries in your accounts. So before
you import data from your archive file, ask yourself if it's worth the
hassle.
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CHANGE YOUR ACCOUNT MANAGER VIEW
Did you know that you can change the sort order of the Account
Manager, lickety-split? To do so, simply double-click the column
heading of the column you want to sort by. For instance, to view
accounts by their balance, click the Balance column heading. This
displays accounts by the account balance in ascending order. Click it
again to display them in descending order.
----------------------------------------------
EXPORT TAX DATA
Once you've generated a tax software report (select Reports and
then
select Taxes from the Reports & Charts list. Select Tax Software
report from the Reports & Charts gallery. In the Date Range field at
the bottom of the screen, select Previous and check it for accuracy),
then you are ready to export it to your tax software program, such as
TurboTax or TaxCut. After you've created the Tax Software export file,
you switch to your tax preparation program and import the file.
To create the tax export file, select File, Export To Tax Software.
In
the resulting Export Tax dialog box, enter a name for the tax export
file in the File Name field and click OK. Money then generates the
export file.
----------------------------------------------
FIND MISSING CHECKS
Recently a reader asked us if it was possible to track down missing
checks in the check register. You know how your monthly bank statement
usually indicates when there is a gap in your check sequence?
Fortunately, Money's Monthly report keeps track of this information
for you too, and flags any discrepancies.
To see if there are any missing checks for the current month, click
on
Reports in the Navigation bar and then select Monthly Reports. Next,
select the appropriate month's report. Click on Potential Problems to
skip to the report section labeled Potential Problems With Your
Account. The Gap In Check Sequence area will indicate if there are any
missing checks in the current month.
----------------------------------------------
FINE TUNE YOUR REPORTS
In our last tip, and in the past, we've shown you how to customize
many of Money's reports to suit your needs. In this tip we want to
show you a little trick that can make it easier to customize reports
just the way you like them.
When you click the Customize button to display the Customize Report
dialog box, you may have noticed the button labeled Apply at the
bottom of the dialog box. When you click the Apply button, you can see
how any changes you've made to the report settings will affect the
current report, before you close the dialog box.
For instance, you can preview how a new font typeface will look in
a
report by clicking the Apply button. Then, if necessary, you can move
the Customize Report dialog box out of the way (by clicking and
dragging its title bar) so that you can see how the report text looks
with the new typeface. If you like the way it looks, click OK to
accept the font change and close the dialog box. If you don't like it,
select another typeface or select the original report typeface.
Remember, though, that once you click the Apply button those changes
are in effect for the current report.
The Reset button returns the report settings to the program
defaults
and does not simply undo the last change you made. Don't click the
Reset button unless you want to return *all* report settings to the
program defaults.
----------------------------------------------
GENERATE A CAPITAL GAINS REPORT
If you have earned cash through the sale of an investment during
the
past year, then you'll want to generate the Capital Gains report.
Select Reports from the Navigation bar and then select Taxes from the
Reports & Charts list. Next, select Capital Gains from the Reports &
Chart gallery. In the Date Range field at the bottom of the screen,
select Previous Year and then click Go To Report/Chart to generate the
report.
----------------------------------------------
GET MY DATA BACK, PLEASE
In last month's tips we told you how to remove old data from your
Money files and store it in an archive file for safe keeping. A
TipWorld reader asked if it was possible to import that data back into
a Money file at a later date. You may want to import the data back in
if you want to generate time-sensitive reports, for example. Luckily,
Money does allow you to import that data back into any file you
choose.
To import data, select File, Import, and specify the name of the
import file in the File Name dialog box. Click the Import button.
Next, indicate if you want to create a backup file before you import
the data. We recommend that you do, just to be on the safe side. In
the resulting Select Import Account dialog box, select the account in
which the data should be imported. Click OK to import the data.
----------------------------------------------
HOW MUCH PIE IS THAT?
While we're on the subject of pie charts, are you curious to see
just
how much a piece of pie is worth? You can add pie labels to your chart
that show the amount of each piece--either as a percent or as a dollar
amount--in relation to the entire pie. If necessary, select Reports
from the Navigation bar, select Where The Money Goes from the Report &
Chart Gallery, and click Go To Chart/Report. Next, click the Customize
button located at the bottom of the chart window and click the Chart
tab in the Customize Report dialog box. In the Pie Labels section,
select Percents or Dollar Amounts and click OK.
----------------------------------------------
INDICATE TAXABLE ACCOUNTS
Just as you can indicate which categories should be included in
your
tax reports, you can also decide which accounts Money should scour for
taxable transactions. For instance, you'll want to make sure that any
asset accounts you use to track the value of your home or car are
excluded from the taxable transaction reports. That way, you won't
skew the results of your tax reports and you won't end up paying taxes
on money that you never received.
To specify which accounts should be included in the tax reports,
select Reports from the Navigation bar and then select Taxes from the
Reports & Charts list. Select Tax-Related Transactions from the
Reports & Chart gallery, select Previous Year in the Date Range field,
and then click Go To Report/Chart. Next, click the Customize button,
and select the Account tab. Remove any account from the report by
clicking once on the account name to remove the checkmark. Click OK
when you are finished. Make sure you perform these steps for every tax
report you create.
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