Free Trial of MS Money Not Up To Snuff

This weekend I downloaded the 90-day trial version of Microsoft Money 2006 Deluxe. I spent about three hours uploading my financial information and meticulously categorizing my expenses. I had MS Money pull my credit card and banking information directly from my online accounts. After tinkering around with it for a few hours, I deduced that I strongly prefer my manual method of tracking income, expenses and net worth in Excel. It is much easier to do what-if scenarios, and it takes much less time. It also makes me feel much more 'in touch' with my money. I felt that Microsoft Money was overly complex, and not as intiuitive as I had expected it to be. I was a little disappointed with this finding. I guess I expected more from Microsoft. I suppose it might be a good tool for somebody who has a business, but for personal finance tracking, it isn't the solution for me.

Location, Location, Location

People often tell me how lucky I am to live in such a fantastic neighborhood. I live in easy walking distance of:

• four grocery stores


• the public library


• a post office


• two dozen or so great restaurants


• three neighborhood pubs


• four coffee shops


• a fun variety of retail shops


• a dry cleaner


• two fantastic parks


• a beautiful lake


• in easy bicycling distance of my office

When people comment on where I live, the conversation usually goes something like this:

Them: "You are so lucky to live in this awesome neighborhood!"

Me: "I agree that it is a fantastic neighborhood. But I am not lucky to live here. I chose to live here."

Them: "I could never afford to buy a house in this neighborhood."

Me: "Sure you can! It just wouldn't be as big as your current one."

Them: "But I couldn't live without my...(fill in the blank)...walk in closet, double garage, jacuzzi tub, four bedroom house, etc."

At that point I change the topic because folks like that can't imagine giving up a material possession or home amenity in exchange for the increased quality of life that a neighborhood community offers. I wouldn't trade my tiny one-bedroom condo in a fantastic neighborhood for a huge, hulking house in the strip-mall suburbs for ANYTHING!

Free Personal Finance Tools

If you are a Microsoft office user (e.g. Word, Excel) you might want to check out the free personal finance templates offered on their web site. Available templates include budgeting templates, calculators for 401k planning, investment calculators and mortgage amortization/analysis templates.

My personal favorite is the lifetime savings calculator which allows you to calculate the lifetime savings of switching to a generic version of a particular product. It's simple math to do without a fancy Excel calculator, but it sure is fun to see how much you can save!