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| Microsoft Money Premium 2005 [Old Version] | ![Microsoft Money Premium 2005 [Old Version]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515RCZVS7EL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | From: Microsoft Software
Category: Software
Buy New: $79.99
New (1) Used (6) from $15.24
Avg. Customer Rating:  41 reviews
Sales Rank: 3498
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows Xp
Media: CD-ROM
Edition: Premium
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.5 x 1.4
MPN: MSCD80377WI
Model: S66-00009
UPC: 805529803770
EAN: 0805529803770
ASIN: B0002D156I
Release Date: September 13, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 A waste of time and money... January 12, 2005
13 out of 15 found this review helpful
After hours of input, the program is difficult to manage; laborious to move around in; and the user's guide doesn't provide much assistance. Look elsewhere for simple, home finance management.
Very Disappointing January 8, 2005
14 out of 16 found this review helpful
Stick with Money 2004 if you have it or go to Quicken. This product does not work with Citibank, requires you to put all your info on MSN server, and has a poor interface and really bad help. Save your money and use something else.
DO NOT BUY THIS January 2, 2005
17 out of 19 found this review helpful
At first I really liked this software. It worked great for my simple needs: automatically download my transactions and run them through my budget. The problem was it stopped doing that - multiple times. I contacted tech support and they attempted to help me one of the four times I contacted them. After days of recreating and importing statements and budgets I finally gave up. Since Microsoft does not care about making software that works, or cares to help me fix it (probably because their are fundamental flaws in the software) I have given up on Microsoft Money. I HIGHLY recommend you do not use this software.
I have used Quicken before and it is far superior to Money. If you do not care about automatic downloads of transactions then Quicken is for you. If you want automatic downloads of transactions you may be stuck. Quicken has been trying to convince Banks to start supporting their new standard since 1997 and they have been unsuccesful. I suggested they use Yodelee like Microsoft does and they basically said that they have a standard and that I must convince my bank to support it. Yeah right.
 NO PROBLEMS HERE December 1, 2004
11 out of 28 found this review helpful
I recently purchased this product. I am having no problems at all. I downloaded directly from microsoft. The download went smoothly, although a little longer than anticipated. It synchronizes with citi bank, there are no popup ads, nor did my system crash. It did duplicate accounts but I just merged the accounts with one click on the menu. There may have been bugs in the begining, but it seems ok now. There are bitter little souls out there that just like to tear things down. Somebody says it's cool to hate microsoft so they hate microsoft.
Should not have been ever released November 20, 2004
33 out of 34 found this review helpful
I just got off the phone with MS tech support. Two hours, several 'trial' files later, I still cannot get online updates from several banks and investment organizations that I could do with the 04 version. This is after a couple of days when MS downloaded a major update that was planned to take care of 'errors that you might have had with your accounts' balance after upgrading to 2005'. I kid you not.
Now, for someone reading this review will contrast with the 'fantastic' reviews, and might ask - who do I believe? I have always gone by the law of large numbers - if a large number of people rank something, the average is probably the best guess that you can go by.
I have been using Money from 1998. Never been a great fan, but always felt that it was like any other prominent MS end-user software - useful, sometimes with some neat tricks, but never really 'wow'. And I am okay with that. So on to my review...
After upgarding, the first thing that struck me was that my net worth seemed to have shrunk by a factor of 5. A little sleuthing later, I find that when I sold many of my investments, the cash, instead of crediting my bank, debited it. So, not only had my investment account been debited, but so had my bank account! No wonder did I initially think that I would have to rethink my retirement plans.
After painfully changing all of them one by one, the second whammy - the online MSN account, which I like an idiot tried to give another try after the fiasco of last year, acted just like before. A flurry of new accounts, existing accounts had new transactions, weird closed accounts with suffixes of #1, #2, etc. Another round of painful editing. By this time, it was nearly 2 in the morning, and I had spent over 5 hours on the !@#$ software.
Nearly forty days later, I have stabilized. There are still gripes, like some accounts that could be downloaded before cannot be any longer (a hint: if you have a retirement account that does not download and other accounts that do with the same investment firm, you are going to have problems - the MS tech support helpfully pointed out that the new format that 2005 uses is yet to be fully or flawlessly integrated by all financial institutions).
So, what have you got? No new feature, really truly speaking, when you get down to it. Gimmicks here and there, but they were all present - warts and all - before, only now they have been more prominently advertised. The interface is probably nice for first-time users, but I really miss my four-column display where I could display a lot more information. The features you would really like to see - and I have emailed Microsoft before about them several years back, hoping that they look at user reviews - like some sort of investment analysis by grouping a set of accounts together dynamically by different goals (e.g. college, retirement, down payment for so and so, etc.), still do not exist. The flaws that were there before are still there - all of them. If someone has found one which has been corrected, let me know. Huge un-learning curve for old-time users, because MS suddenly decided to do away with the two-level classification in many cases.
In other words, if you have 04 (or even 03) do yourself a favor - do not buy it, even for free. You won't miss a thing, and you might hold on to some of your hair for a few days longer. I have never used Quicken, but read about similar horror stories from upgraders, so I decided to cut my losses and quit. Note to myself - when 06 comes out, wait till February of the new year at least before deciding.
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