Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe & Business

Installation is simple as a wizard takes you step-by-step through the process. If you're upgrading, the steps are fewer and more easily traversed. Want to switch from Quicken? Money 2003 can do that, too, with a handy file converter. Audio and video help is readily available as well, making the experience even easier for first-timers.

As for features, few things have changed from Money 2002, making upgrading less of a necessity and more of an option. With a new portfolio-customization toolbar and portfolio highlight and analysis reports, most of the added features for personal finance management are aimed at investors. A new online research center is also included, giving you fast access to tools and information such as company reports, earning estimates, market reports, quotes, news, and charts.

On the business side, Money now has payroll support powered by PayCycle, making paydays a little simpler. Some new tax features allow you to get a better handle on things with side-by-side comparisons, capital gains scenarios, and loss carryover features.

What Money continues to do best though is Web integration. Whether you're downloading bank statements, checking stock prices, or paying your bills, all of it can be accessed right in Money. As an additional incentive to take advantage of its Web features, Microsoft has thrown in one year of their online bill paying service, one free online tax preparation and filing, an Equifax credit report, and a consultation with a financial planner.

Money 2003 Deluxe & Business is a great software package for managing your personal and business finances and goals on your Windows PC. While there are only a few reasons for upgrading from 2002, Microsoft continues to give you more bang for your buck. --Josh Goldman

Amazon.com Product Description
Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe & Business is designed for the sole proprietor or small-business owner who wants to manage both personal and small-business finances in one place. Track your inventory and projects, design customer invoices and send them, analyze your businesses' success, and more. New features include auto balancing, a bills estimator, and the creation of spending comparison reports.

Money helps you save time organizing and managing your finances. Easily balance your checkbook, create and track a budget, manage your cash flow, pay your bills, organize your finances, and view a complete picture of your financial health in one place. Achieve your future financial goals such as reducing your debt, forecasting your cash flow, planning for retirement, financing an education, or saving to buy a house or car.

Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe & Business features improved bill management, an invoice designer with new online templates, and the ability to save up to five scenarios to compare options of realized capital gains. Track equity and index calls, puts, and LEAPs. Even use Money's tracking and prediction tools for business accounts and categories to examine your cash flow. Money 2003 Deluxe & Business is a complete solution for personal and business finance management on your PC.

Product Description
Microsoft Money 2003 Deluxe and Business is the tool you need for managing your day-to-day finances while preparing for a mortgage, taxes, retirement and more! Business accounts and categories Manage your equity options, track puts and LEAPs and calculate gains and losses on your options Try out different money-making scenarioes with the Capital Gains Estimator All the tools you need for financial security and independence are here

At first I was going to buy Microsoft Money Deluxe 2003. But, for just a little extra, I decided to try the Deluxe & Business version instead. I have a small internet side business and I thought this would be a perfect fit.

First, let me address the home portion of the program:
This is an incredible step-up from the equivalent version of Quicken. The interface is simple, the program is not "buggy", and the online help is more than comprehensive enough to get you through even the toughest of problems. Because I was already using the 2003 version of Quicken, I was not able to automatically transfer my Quicken file, so I cannot comment on how that particular feature works. But I can certainly tell you that setting up all of my accounts from scratch (and I have quite a few) was more than simple. All of the online banking features worked flawlessly, and I was up and running in about 3 hours - start to finish. And with much less frustration than with Quicken.

As for the business portion of the program:
This area is, admittedly, not very advanced. It is good for very small side businesses (such as mine), but for anything more comprehensive, you may want to look elsewhere. I think the problem with marketing these two features together is that a lot of people may be expecting too much out of the business portion of the program, so they tend to write-off the whole thing. This program is intended only for the very smalest home business owner. If you are looking for anything more comprehensive than that, my advice would be to invest in the standard or deluxe versions of Micrsoft Money for your personal finances, and look elsewhere for a more comprehensive accounting program for your business finances. But if you decide to go the frugal route, expect to get what you pay for.

In conclusion, Microsoft Money is, in my estimation, 10x easier to use than Quicken and is laid out in a much nicer fashion. In addition, there are no bugs that I could find, whereas Quicken was giving me constant problems (browser conflicts, lock-ups, etc.) Take it from a long time Quicken user - It's not too late to switch. Go buy Microsoft Money today.


Good reports are the real power...   October 2, 2002
34 out of 36 found this review helpful

This program steps back and kicks Quicken ...! I've used both MS money 2003 and Quicken Pro. Money wins hands down.

The user interface is complex. It took a little time of trial and error to get my accounts right. I decided, shortly after setting everything up once, to start over from scratch because through use, I realized new features and power that I needed a correct setup to take advantage of. There are ways to correct a flawed setup, but I did not learn them till after. The interface is slightly complex because this program is built to run reports. Good reports are the real power behind stored information. Anybody can just store a bunch of data, but the intelligence comes from seeing what is stored, and that is done through reports and charts and flows and other displays.

Money allows you to forecast cash flow, plan for experimental financial events, chart retirement and child education. There are so many invaluable reporting tools that it makes the program seem difficult to use correctly without instruction. Fortunately there are audible instructions the first time you use a new feature, and online help. But really, I can't get over the charts and reports that are available. And then beyond reports there is phenomenal scenario capabilities that help you look into the future.

If your financial institution supports it, you can auto-synchronize your online bank account with Money. It's the next step to exporting and importing your bank data. It really simplifies balancing your check register.

There is an Invoice designer included in this Business version that is supposed to be improved from the last release. I looked at it, but was not impressed. I tried to customize my invoices to suite the specific format that I use which involves the way I list professional services rendered on my invoices, but the designer was too rigid to allow me to adjust text fields. I was expecting the ability to customize the fields' properties and such, but was left disappointed. I would say the Invoice designer only good for changing the way an Invoice looks. As far I could tell, the Invoice Designer is limited to allow changes to the color, size and position of fields and text, unfortunately. I hope that more flexibility is something they plan on adding in future versions.

Over-all there are far too many good things to say about this program. It does have limitations, but the features and abilities far exceed the others on the market.


Microsoft Money is both hugely useful, and a huge pain...   September 10, 2002
P.F.C. (Madison, WI)
31 out of 33 found this review helpful

I've been using Money for over six years (Deluxe & Business for four), and am probably what you would call a "power user", so I'm not sure how applicable my experience is to the casual user. If you're interested in keeping track of *everything* with Money, like me, then you'll probably find it a double-edged sword.

On one hand, it does a good job as a computerized account register & invoice tracker, and automatic statement downloads (from institutions that support it) can save a lot of time. But the more data you keep track of, the slower it gets. My PCs have gotten faster at about the rate of Moore's Law over the past five years, and Money has actually gotten slower to use -- that says something.

Most frustrating, the budgeting functionality has gone from useful to useless, IMHO. It was better four years ago than it is now. It's next to impossible to generate a useful report on how you're doing so far this month or year unless you like doing lots of math in your head.

I'm the odd position of disliking MS-Money for lots of reasons, while finding it indispensible for managing my money. You might say it ..., but it's better than the alternative.


Don't buy this for the business features   December 11, 2002
Simply Curious (Middletown, NJ USA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

I have used MS money for several years, and found it to be an acceptable product. This year I upgrade to the business edition to help manage my small business. Unfortunately the program features provided for business are not complete enough to be useful. The limitations of the invoices are a good example. There is no way to record a discount given to a particular customer. Also, there is no way to record the credit card fee subtracted from each transaction. Finally the invoice is so rigid there is no way to annotate particular items with explanatory notes.

Also, several of my financial institutions are set up to interwork with Quicken, but do not interwork with Money.


Money 2003 Deluxe& Business weak for business   February 11, 2003
Edward W. Duhaime (Westminster, Colorado)
13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I purchased Money 2003 Deluxe & Business to include my wife's self-employed service business. The regular 'home' part of the program is fairly good and has lots of feature. The business part lacks quite a bit in several areas. The invoice designer wouldn't save a modified version on my Win 98 machine but works on Win Me on my notebook. Modification are rather limited. Certain fields have to stay in a certain frames within the Invoice. Worse, payment of invoices doesn't allow to enter a check number. When a payment is received and put into an account it becomes divorced from the invoice. The invoice shows having been paid but it is no longer associated with the actual payment entry. Makes it very hard to look and and figure out when problems arise. Also the business reports are almost un customizable except in a few minor things. Very frustrating. Accounts can't be designated as business accounts, distinguished from home accounts. Also 'project' information can not be put on invoices. Fields (such as customer name) are limited in size. Some Businesses have more than 20 or so characters in their name!
Anyway, it looks like we will be buying the Quicken equivalent. From the 'tour' of the Quicken site at least we can enter a check number against an invoice!