by Peter Weverka
Want to make the most of your money? Find Out How, Here!
Let Money help you budget, track investements, and plan ahead
Part I: Setting Up and Starting Out
Part II: Banking with Money
Part III: Money for Investors
Part IV: Getting Your Money’s Worth
Part V: Improving Your Financial Picture
Part VI: Going Online with Money
Part VII: The Part of Tens
Appendix: Glossary of Financial Terms
 |
| Microsoft® Money 2006 For Dummies® |
Peter Weverka is the bestselling author of several For Dummies
books, including Office 2003 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies,
The Everyday Internet All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies, and
29 other computer books about various topics. Peter’s books have
been translated into 16 languages and sold three-quarter of a million
copies. His humorous articles and stories — none related to
computers, thankfully — have appeared in Harper’s, SPY, and other
magazines for grown-ups.
Author’s Acknowledgments
This book owes a lot to many hard-working people at the offices of
John Wiley & Sons in Indiana. I am very grateful to Bob Woerner for
giving me the opportunity to write it, and Susan Christophersen for
being such a devoted project editor and copy editor.
Thanks go to technical editor Allen Wyatt for dogging my every
step to make sure this book is indeed accurate. I would also like to
thank TECHBOOKS Production Services for writing the index and
Rich Tennant for the witty cartoons you will find on the pages of this book.
The first edition of this book came out in 1998! I would be remiss if
I didn’t thank the talented editors who worked on earlier editions
of this book, so thank you Steve Hayes, Beth Taylor, Jim McCarter,
Kyle Looper, Tammy Castleman, Kathleen Dobie, Stephanie Koutek,
Brian Kramer, Patricia Pan, Rev Mengle, Diane Smith, and Gareth Hancock.
Finally, thanks go to my family — Sofia, Henry, and Addie — for
indulging my vampire-like work schedule and my eerie demeanor at daybreak.
Peter Weverka
San Francisco
June 2005
Introduction
This book is for users of these editions of Money 2006: Standard, Deluxe,
and Premium. It is for Microsoft Money 2006 users who want to get to the
heart of the program without wasting time. Don’t look in this book to find out
how Money works. Look in this book to find out how you can manage your
finances with Money.
I show you everything you need to know to stay on top of your finances —
from recording checks and deposits to tracking investments. On the way, you
have a laugh or two. And you can shed light on parts of your finances that
have never seen the light of day before. After you read this book, you can
start admiring what a financial wizard you have become.
About This Book
This book is jam-packed with instructions, advice, shortcuts, and tips for getting
the most out of Money. Here’s a bare outline of the seven parts of this book:
Part I: Setting Up and Starting Out: Part I spells out everything you
need to know to use Money wisely. It explains how to find your way
around the Money windows, set up accounts, and record transactions.
Part II: Banking with Money: Part II explains how to get the banking
done with Money’s help. It explains categorizing your spending and
income, reconciling an account, and printing checks.
Part III: Money for Investors: Part III is for investors. It shows how to
track your investments with Money, enlist Money’s help in researching
investments, and update the prices of securities from the Internet.
Part IV: Getting Your Money’s Worth: In Part IV, you discover how to
budget with Money, schedule bill payments so that you make them on
time, estimate your income tax bill, plan for retirement, and do the mundane
chores, such as backing up your financial data, that make Money
run more smoothly.
Part V: Improving Your Financial Picture: Part V explains how to generate
reports and charts so that you can see exactly where you stand
financially, and analyze investments and loans.
Part VI: Going Online with Money: If your computer is connected to the
Internet, you are invited to go online and take advantage of Money’s
online features. Among other high-tech tasks, Part VI explains how to
download bank statements over the Internet and pay bills online.
Part VII: The Part of Tens: Each of the four chapters in Part VII offers
ten tidbits of advice — advice for staying on top of your finances,
improving your financial health, using Money if you are self-employed,
and converting from Quicken to Money.
But wait — there’s more! Turn to the glossary to look up the financial terms
that appear in this book.
Foolish Assumptions
Please forgive me, but I made one or two foolish assumptions about you, the
reader of this book. I assumed these things:
You use one of these Windows operating systems — Windows 98,
Windows NT, Windows XP, or higher.
You own a copy of Microsoft Money 2006 Standard edition, Deluxe edition,
or Premium edition. This book does not cover Microsoft Money
2006 Small Business edition.
You are kind to foreign tourists and small animals.
Conventions Used in This Book
I want you to understand all the instructions in this book, and in that spirit,
I’ve adopted a few conventions.
To show you how to give commands on menus, I use the ➪ symbol. For example,
you can choose File➪Back Up to make a backup copy of the data you
store in Money. The ➪ is just a shorthand method of saying “Choose Back Up
from the File menu.”
Where you see boldface letters in this book, it means to type the letters. For
example, “Type Where Did the Money Go? in the Report name text box”
means to do exactly that: Type the words Where Did the Money Go?.
and Premium. It is for Microsoft Money 2006 users who want to get to the
heart of the program without wasting time. Don’t look in this book to find out
how Money works. Look in this book to find out how you can manage your
finances with Money.
I show you everything you need to know to stay on top of your finances —
from recording checks and deposits to tracking investments. On the way, you
have a laugh or two. And you can shed light on parts of your finances that
have never seen the light of day before. After you read this book, you can
start admiring what a financial wizard you have become.
About This Book
This book is jam-packed with instructions, advice, shortcuts, and tips for getting
the most out of Money. Here’s a bare outline of the seven parts of this book:
Part I: Setting Up and Starting Out: Part I spells out everything you
need to know to use Money wisely. It explains how to find your way
around the Money windows, set up accounts, and record transactions.
Part II: Banking with Money: Part II explains how to get the banking
done with Money’s help. It explains categorizing your spending and
income, reconciling an account, and printing checks.
Part III: Money for Investors: Part III is for investors. It shows how to
track your investments with Money, enlist Money’s help in researching
investments, and update the prices of securities from the Internet.
Part IV: Getting Your Money’s Worth: In Part IV, you discover how to
budget with Money, schedule bill payments so that you make them on
time, estimate your income tax bill, plan for retirement, and do the mundane
chores, such as backing up your financial data, that make Money
run more smoothly.
Part V: Improving Your Financial Picture: Part V explains how to generate
reports and charts so that you can see exactly where you stand
financially, and analyze investments and loans.
Part VI: Going Online with Money: If your computer is connected to the
Internet, you are invited to go online and take advantage of Money’s
online features. Among other high-tech tasks, Part VI explains how to
download bank statements over the Internet and pay bills online.
Part VII: The Part of Tens: Each of the four chapters in Part VII offers
ten tidbits of advice — advice for staying on top of your finances,
improving your financial health, using Money if you are self-employed,
and converting from Quicken to Money.
But wait — there’s more! Turn to the glossary to look up the financial terms
that appear in this book.
Foolish Assumptions
Please forgive me, but I made one or two foolish assumptions about you, the
reader of this book. I assumed these things:
You use one of these Windows operating systems — Windows 98,
Windows NT, Windows XP, or higher.
You own a copy of Microsoft Money 2006 Standard edition, Deluxe edition,
or Premium edition. This book does not cover Microsoft Money
2006 Small Business edition.
You are kind to foreign tourists and small animals.
Conventions Used in This Book
I want you to understand all the instructions in this book, and in that spirit,
I’ve adopted a few conventions.
To show you how to give commands on menus, I use the ➪ symbol. For example,
you can choose File➪Back Up to make a backup copy of the data you
store in Money. The ➪ is just a shorthand method of saying “Choose Back Up
from the File menu.”
Where you see boldface letters in this book, it means to type the letters. For
example, “Type Where Did the Money Go? in the Report name text box”
means to do exactly that: Type the words Where Did the Money Go?.
Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................1
About This Book ...............................................................................................1
Foolish Assumptions ........................................................................................2
Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2
Icons Used in This Book ..................................................................................3
Part I: Setting Up and Starting Out ................................5
Chapter 1: Introducing Money
Starting Money ..................................................................................................8
Creating a shortcut icon for Money .....................................................8
Pinning Money to the Start menu .........................................................8
Starting Money for the First Time ..................................................................9
Discovering How Money Can Help You with Your Finances .....................11
Keeping accurate records of your spending and income ................11
Categorizing your spending and income ...........................................12
Estimating your income taxes .............................................................13
Handling your investments .................................................................13
Pinching your pennies .........................................................................14
Planning ahead ......................................................................................14
Banking online .......................................................................................14
Shutting Down Money ....................................................................................15
Chapter 2: The Basics
Getting Around in Money ..............................................................................17
Links for going from window to window ...........................................17
Toolbar buttons for getting around ....................................................18
Tabs for going to different windows ...................................................19
Customizing the Home Page Window ..........................................................21
Browsing the Web in Money .........................................................................22
Customizing the Toolbar ...............................................................................24
Chapter 3: Setting Up Your Accounts
Accounts and Registers for Recording Financial Transactions ................27
The Basics: Setting Up Checking and Savings Accounts ...........................30
Setting up a checking or savings account .........................................30
Listing contact names, phone numbers, and other information ....32
Changing an Account’s Name or Type .........................................................34
Setting Up an Account to Track Credit Card and Line of Credit
Transactions ................................................................................................35
Chapter 4: Recording Your Financial Activity
Opening an Account Register .......................................................................39
Recording Transactions in Registers ...........................................................42
Types of transactions ...........................................................................42
Entering a transaction ..........................................................................44
Splitting a Transaction ...................................................................................47
Recording a Deposit or Debit Card Purchase with Cash Back .................49
Transferring Money between Accounts ......................................................51
Recording Transactions in Credit Card and Line of Credit Accounts ......52
Recording credit card and line of credit charges .............................52
Recording a credit ................................................................................54
Recording a credit card payment .......................................................54
Fixing Mistakes in Account Registers ..........................................................55
Finding a transaction so that you can fix it .......................................56
Changing or editing transactions .......................................................60
Voiding and Deleting Transactions ..............................................................61
Moving a Transaction from One Account to Another ...............................63
Printing a Register ..........................................................................................64
Part II: Banking with Money ........................................67
Chapter 5: Categorizing Your Spending and Income
Looking at the Ways to Categorize Income and Spending ........................70
By category ...........................................................................................70
By subcategory .....................................................................................70
By classification ....................................................................................71
By tax-related status ............................................................................71
Setting Up Your Own Categories and Subcategories .................................71
Creating a new category in the New Category dialog box ..............72
Creating a new subcategory ................................................................74
Editing and Refining a Category or Subcategory .......................................75
Setting Up and Defining a Classification ......................................................77
Setting up a classification ....................................................................78
Defining classes and subclasses .........................................................79
Correcting Transactions that Were Recorded in the Wrong Category ....80
Moving all transactions from one category to another category ....81
Reassigning transactions to new categories .....................................82
Renaming and Deleting Categories and Classifications ............................84
Renaming a category or subcategory ................................................84
Renaming a classification ....................................................................85
Deleting a category or subcategory ...................................................85
Deleting a classification .......................................................................87
Chapter 6: Reconciling, or Balancing, an Account
How Reconciling Works .................................................................................89
Balancing an Account ....................................................................................90
Telling Money which transactions cleared the bank .......................91
Fixing mistakes as you reconcile ........................................................94
Help! The Darn Thing Won’t Reconcile! .......................................................94
A checklist of things to do if you can’t reconcile .............................95
“AutoReconciling” an account ............................................................97
Forcing an account to balance ............................................................97
Reconciling a Credit Card Account ..............................................................98
Chapter 7:Writing and Printing Checks
Deciding What Kind of Check to Order .....................................................102
Ordering the Checks ....................................................................................103
Getting Your Printer Ready to Print Checks .............................................105
Recording Checks that You Intend to Print ...............................................106
Testing to See Whether Checks Print Correctly .......................................108
Printing a practice check ...................................................................108
Making adjustments to the text alignment ......................................109
Printing Your Checks ...................................................................................111
Printing a full sheet of checks ...........................................................111
Printing partial sheets of checks ......................................................112
Whoops! My Checks Didn’t Print Correctly ..............................................114
Part III: Money for Investors ......................................117
Chapter 8: Setting Up Investment Accounts
Your Own Electronic Portfolio Manager ....................................................119
Setting Up an Investment Account for Tracking Securities ....................121
Setting Up a Retirement Account for Tracking Retirement Savings
and Investments ........................................................................................124
Setting Up an Account to Track Employee Stock Options ......................128
Tracking Securities You Don’t Own in a Watch Account .........................130
Chapter 9: Tracking the Value of Your Investments
Recording Payments to (and Disbursements from) Brokers ..................134
Describing the Securities in Investment and Retirement Accounts ......135
Handling Stocks ............................................................................................138
Recording a purchase of stocks ........................................................138
Recording the sale of stocks .............................................................139
Recording and reinvesting dividends from stocks .........................142
Recording stock splits, short sells, margin purchases, and
other esoterica ................................................................................142
Handling Mutual Funds ................................................................................144
Recording the sale or purchase of mutual funds ...........................145
Recording dividends and distributions ...........................................145
Handling Bonds ............................................................................................147
Recording the purchase of a bond ...................................................148
Recording interest payments from bonds .......................................150
Other Kinds of Investments ........................................................................150
Precious metals ...................................................................................151
Certificates of deposit ........................................................................151
Editing and Deleting Investment and Retirement Account
Transactions ..............................................................................................151
Updating the Price of Securities .................................................................152
Downloading stock and mutual fund quotes from the
Internet .............................................................................................153
Updating the price of securities on your own ................................155
Chapter 10: Researching and Analyzing Your Investments
Analyzing Your Investments .......................................................................157
Charting the Performance of an Investment .............................................160
Reviewing Your Portfolio .............................................................................161
Seeing How Well Your Investments Are Allocated ...................................162
Generating Investment Reports ..................................................................163
Being Alerted When a Security Hits a Certain Price ................................164
Researching Investments at MoneyCentral ..............................................165
Other Ways to Research Investments Online ...........................................166
Researching mutual funds on the Internet ......................................166
Researching stocks on the Internet ..................................................167
Researching bonds on the Internet ..................................................168
Finding a Broker ...........................................................................................169
Part IV: Getting Your Money’s Worth ..........................171
Chapter 11: Some Important Housekeeping Chores
Backing Up and Restoring Money Files .....................................................173
Telling Money how to back up your financial data ........................174
Backing up your data file ...................................................................176
Restoring a file from its backup copy ..............................................177
Transferring Your Money File to a New Computer ..................................179
Pruning the Payees List ...............................................................................179
Organizing Your Favorite Accounts, Reports, and Web Sites .................180
Protecting Files with a Password or Passport Network Credentials .....181
Locking a file with a password or Microsoft passport ..................181
Opening a file that has been given a password ..............................183
Changing and removing passwords .................................................184
Deleting and Closing Bank Accounts .........................................................184
Closing an account .............................................................................185
Deleting an account ............................................................................186
Creating an Archive File for Past Transactions ........................................186
Creating a Separate File for Financial Activity ..........................................187
Creating the separate file ...................................................................187
Opening the Money file you want to work with ..............................188
Renaming and Deleting Money Files ..........................................................189
Chapter 12: Pinching Your Pennies
Scheduling Bills So That They Are Paid on Time .....................................191
Scheduling a bill payment or deposit ..............................................193
How Money tells you to pay bills .....................................................196
Scheduling deposits, transfers, and investment purchases .........197
Recording a scheduled transaction in a register ............................197
Skipping a scheduled transaction ....................................................198
Changing a scheduled transaction ...................................................199
Canceling a scheduled transaction ..................................................199
Budgeting with Money .................................................................................200
Choosing between advanced and essential budgets .....................201
Getting started with an advanced budget .......................................202
Enter your income: Telling Money about your income .................204
Enter your expenses: Budgeting your monthly expenses .............207
Savings goals: Declaring what to do with extra money .................208
Budget summary and status .............................................................208
Formulating an essential budget ......................................................209
Seeing whether you met your budget goals ....................................210
Working with more than one budget . . . ..........................................211
Tracking Your Frequent Flyer Miles ...........................................................212
Chapter 13: Planning for the Years Ahead
Being Alerted to Important Events ............................................................215
Projecting Your Cash Flow ..........................................................................217
Introducing the Lifetime Planner ................................................................219
About you: Telling Money about yourself and your dependents ....221
Income: Describing your present and future income ....................221
Taxes & Inflation: Describing the tax and inflation rate ................222
Savings & Investments: Describing your retirement savings ........223
Expected Return: Describing how your money will grow .............224
Homes & Assets: Describing things of value that you own or
will own ............................................................................................224
Loans & Debt: Describing current and future loans .......................224
Expenses: Describing the cost of living ...........................................225
Results: Reading your financial future .............................................226
Action Plan: What you should do next ............................................226
Playing “what if” with your future ....................................................227
Planning to Get Out of Debt ........................................................................228
Chapter 14: Preparing for Tax Time
Tagging Categories for Tax-Reporting Purposes ......................................231
Looking at Line-Item Income and Expenses ..............................................234
Generating Tax Reports ...............................................................................235
Estimating Your Tax Bill ...............................................................................235
Scheduling Important Tax Dates ................................................................238
Getting Help for Lowering Your Tax Bill ....................................................238
Determining How Much to Withhold .........................................................239
Estimating Capital Gains Taxes ..................................................................240
Exporting Money Data to a Tax-Preparation Program .............................242
Getting Tax Help on the Internet ................................................................244
Part V: Improving Your Financial Picture ....................245
Chapter 15: Reports and Charts for Seeing
Where You Stand Financially
A Look at the Reports Home Window ........................................................248
Looking at the Different Reports ................................................................250
Income and Expenses .........................................................................250
Investment ...........................................................................................251
Assets and Liabilities .........................................................................252
Taxes ....................................................................................................255
Comparison Reports: For comparing the past with the present ...255
Monthly Reports .................................................................................256
My Favorites ........................................................................................256
Creating a Report or Chart ..........................................................................256
Generating the report or chart .........................................................256
Turning reports into charts and charts into reports .....................257
Investigating the figures from which a chart or report is
constructed ......................................................................................258
Customizing Reports and Charts ...............................................................258
Adding a Customized Report or Chart to the Favorites Menu ...............263
Printing Reports and Charts .......................................................................263
Getting ready to print a report or chart ..........................................264
Printing the report or chart ..............................................................264
Exporting a Report or Chart .......................................................................265
Chapter 16: Tracking Assets, Liabilities, Loans, and Mortgages
Understanding How to Track Assets, Liabilities, Loans, and
Mortgages with Money ............................................................................268
Tracking the Value of a House or Other Asset ..........................................269
Setting up an asset or house account ..............................................269
Recording changes in the value of an asset or house ....................270
Tracking Your Liabilities ..............................................................................272
Tracking Loans and Mortgages ..................................................................273
Setting up a loan or mortgage account ............................................274
Fixing loan or mortgage account errors ..........................................279
Recording loan and mortgage payments .........................................279
Paying early and often .......................................................................281
Adjusting loan account balances ......................................................282
Updating the interest rate on a loan or mortgage ..........................283
Part VI: Going Online with Money ..............................285
Chapter 17: Getting Ready to Go Online
Reviewing the Online Services That Money Offers ..................................287
Laying the Groundwork ...............................................................................290
The equipment you need ...................................................................290
Disabling call waiting .........................................................................291
Signing Up with Your Bank ..........................................................................291
Setting Up a Money Account So That It Works Online ............................295
Setting up an account for Web services ..........................................296
Setting up an account for direct services ........................................296
Signing Up for MSN Bill Pay .........................................................................297
Changing Your Mind about the Online Banking Services ........................297
Chapter 18: Banking and Bill Paying Online
Sending Banking Instructions over the Internet .......................................299
Banking Online ..............................................................................................302
Getting accurate, up-to-date account information .........................302
Viewing and updating a register whose transactions you
downloaded .....................................................................................304
Paying the Bills Online .................................................................................307
Recording the online payment ..........................................................307
Stopping a payment after it’s sent ....................................................308
Transferring money between accounts ...........................................308
Part VII: The Part of Tens ...........................................309
Chapter 19: Ten Things You Should Do Periodically
Back Up Your Data File ................................................................................311
Update Your Savings and Checking Account Registers ...........................312
Balance Your Accounts ................................................................................312
Balance Your Credit Card Accounts ...........................................................312
Personalize the Home Page .........................................................................313
Generate a Monthly Income and Expenses Report ..................................313
Print Your Account Registers .....................................................................313
Make an Archive File and Put It Away ........................................................314
Prune Your Payee List ..................................................................................314
Stop and Smell the Roses ............................................................................314
Chapter 20: Ten Ways to Good Health — Financially Speaking, That Is
Record Credit Card Transactions As You Make Them ............................315
Pay Off All Your Credit Card Debt ..............................................................316
Leave Your Plastic at Home ........................................................................316
Create a Spending by Category Chart .......................................................316
Create a Monthly Income and Expenses Report ......................................317
Create a Budget ............................................................................................317
Plan Ahead for Your Retirement .................................................................317
Set Aside Money for a Rainy Day ................................................................317
Make Like a Young Dog — Learn New Tricks ............................................318
Take the Day Off ...........................................................................................318
Chapter 21: Ten Things to Do If You Are Self-Employed
Diligently Record Your Financial Activity .................................................319
Make Sure That All Tax-Related Expenses Are Marked As Such ............320
Print a Tax-Related Transactions Report for Your Accountant ..............320
Use the Memo Box Early and Often ...........................................................320
Set Aside a Tenth of Your Income in a Savings Account .........................321
Schedule Your Quarterly Tax Payments ....................................................321
Use Classifications to Track Business Expenses ......................................321
Open a Checking Account for Business Transactions .............................322
Write a Check to Yourself Periodically ......................................................322
Keep Your Irons on the Fire ........................................................................322
Chapter 22: Ten Things Ex-Quicken
Users Should Know about
Money
You Can Use Your Old Quicken File in Money ..........................................324
You Can Find the Modified Transactions ..................................................325
Some Things Are Lost in the Conversion ..................................................325
Some Quicken Features Have No Equivalent in Money ...........................325
In Money, Transactions Are Entered on Forms ........................................326
Some Old Bank Transactions Are not Shown as Reconciled ..................326
Your Quicken Checks Are Good in Money ................................................327
Quicken’s Online Banking Services Are No Good with Money ...............327
Your Payee List Is Way, Way Too Long .......................................................328
Money Offers Help for Quicken Users .......................................................328
Glossary of Financial Terms .......................................329
Index........................................................................333
Screenshot
Purchase Now !
Just with Paypal
Just with Paypal
Product details
Price
|
|
|---|---|
Pages
| 362 p |
File Size
|
9,877 KB |
File Type
|
PDF format |
ISBN-13
ISBN-10 | 978-0-7645-9953-8 0-7645-9953-4 |
Copyright
| 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc |
●▬▬▬▬▬❂❂❂▬▬▬▬▬●
●▬▬❂❂▬▬●
●▬❂▬●
●❂●
═════● ●═════
