Microsoft^® Money 2005 For Dummies^®

by Peter Weverka (San Francisco, California)

• ISBN13: 9780764573033
• ISBN10: 0764573039
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-01
• Publisher: For Dummies

Summary

* Shows people how to organize and manage their personal finances, create a budget, reduce debt, pay bills, balance a checkbook, and build a financial plan for the future using Microsoft Money, the #2 personal finance software, with approximately four million users * Walks people through Money basics and helps them take charge of their finances, including setting up online banking accounts, recording transactions, writing and printing checks, and reconciling accounts * Covers organizing finances by category, researching investments online, preparing for tax time, and planning for the future * Revised throughout to cover the latest enhancements in the software * From a veteran For Dummies author who has written more than two dozen computer books

Author Biography

<b>Peter Weverka</b> is the bestselling author of several <i>For Dummies</i> books, including <i>Office 2003 All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies</i> and 22 other computer books about various topics. Peter&#8217;s books have been translated into 16 languages and sold three-quarter of a million copies. His humorous articles and stories &#8212; none related to computers, thankfully &#8212; have appeared in Harper&#8217;s, SPY, and other magazines for grown-ups.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(1)
About This Book	1	(1)
Foolish Assumptions	2	(1)
Conventions Used in This Book	2	(1)
Icons Used in This Book	3	(2)
Part I: Setting Up and Starting Out	5	(62)
Introducing Money	7	(10)
Starting Money	8	(1)
Creating a shortcut icon for Money	8	(1)
Pinning Money to the Start menu	8	(1)
Starting Money for the First Time	9	(2)
How Money Can Help You with Your Finances	11	(4)
Keeping accurate records of your spending and income	11	(1)
Categorizing your spending and income	12	(1)
Estimating your income taxes	13	(1)
Handling your investments	13	(1)
Pinching your pennies	14	(1)
Planning ahead	14	(1)
Banking online	15	(1)
Shutting Down Money	15	(2)
The Basics	17	(10)
Getting Around in Money	17	(4)
Links for going from window to window	17	(1)
Toolbar buttons for getting around	18	(1)
Tabs for going to different windows	19	(2)
Customizing the Home Page Window	21	(2)
Browsing the Web in Money	23	(1)
Customizing the Toolbar	24	(3)
Setting Up Your Accounts	27	(12)
Accounts and Registers for Recording Financial Transactions	27	(3)
The Basics: Setting Up Checking and Savings Accounts	30	(4)
Setting up a checking or savings account	30	(2)
Listing contact names, phone numbers, and other information	32	(2)
Changing an Account's Name or Type	34	(1)
Setting Up an Account to Track Credit Card and Line of Credit Transactions	35	(4)
Recording Your Financial Activity	39	(28)
Opening an Account Register	39	(3)
Recording Transactions in Registers	42	(5)
Splitting a Transaction	47	(2)
Recording a Deposit or Debit Card Purchase with Cash Back	49	(2)
Transferring Money between Accounts	51	(1)
Recording Transactions in Credit Card and Line of Credit Accounts	52	(3)
Recording credit card and line of credit charges	52	(2)
Recording a credit	54	(1)
Recording a credit card payment	54	(1)
Fixing Mistakes in Account Registers	55	(6)
Finding a transaction so that you can fix it	56	(4)
Changing or editing transactions	60	(1)
Voiding and Deleting Transactions	61	(2)
Moving a Transaction from One Account to Another	63	(1)
Printing a Register	64	(3)
Part II: Banking with Money	67	(50)
Categorizing Your Spending and Income	69	(20)
Looking at the Ways to Categorize Income and Spending	70	(1)
By category	70	(1)
By subcategory	70	(1)
By classification	71	(1)
By tax-related status	71	(1)
Setting Up Your Own Categories and Subcategories	71	(4)
Creating a new category in the New Category dialog box	72	(2)
Creating a new subcategory	74	(1)
Editing and Refining a Category or Subcategory	75	(2)
Setting Up and Defining a Classification	77	(3)
Setting up a classification	78	(1)
Defining classes and subclasses	79	(1)
Correcting Transactions that Were Recorded in the Wrong Category	80	(4)
Moving all transactions from one category to another category	81	(1)
Reassigning transactions to new categories	82	(2)
Renaming and Deleting Categories and Classifications	84	(5)
Renaming a category or subcategory	84	(1)
Renaming a classification	85	(1)
Deleting a category or subcategory	85	(1)
Deleting a classification	86	(3)
Reconciling or Balancing an Account	89	(12)
How Reconciling Works	89	(1)
Balancing an Account	90	(5)
Telling Money which transactions cleared the bank	91	(3)
Fixing mistakes as you reconcile	94	(1)
Help! The Darn Thing Won't Reconcile!	95	(3)
A checklist of things to do if you can't reconcile	95	(2)
``AutoReconciling'' an account	97	(1)
Forcing an account to balance	98	(1)
Reconciling a Credit Card Account	98	(3)
Writing and Printing Checks	101	(16)
Deciding What Kind of Check to Order	102	(1)
Ordering the Checks	103	(2)
Getting Your Printer Ready to Print Checks	105	(2)
Recording Checks That You Intend to Print	107	(1)
Testing to See Whether Checks Print Correctly	108	(3)
Printing a practice check	109	(1)
Making adjustments to the text alignment	110	(1)
Printing Your Checks	111	(3)
Printing a full sheet of checks	111	(2)
Printing partial sheets of checks	113	(1)
Whoops! My Checks Didn't Print Correctly	114	(3)
Part III: Money for Investors	117	(52)
Setting Up Investment Accounts	119	(14)
Your Own Electronic Portfolio Manager	119	(2)
Setting Up an Investment Account for Tracking Securities	121	(3)
Setting Up a Retirement Account for Tracking Retirement Savings and Investments	124	(3)
Setting Up an Account to Track Employee Stock Options	127	(3)
Tracking Securities You Don't Own in a Watch Account	130	(3)
Tracking the Value of Your Investments	133	(24)
Recording Payments to (and Disbursements from) Brokers	134	(1)
Describing the Securities in Investment and Retirement Accounts	135	(3)
Handling Stocks	138	(7)
Recording a purchase of stocks	138	(1)
Recording the sale of stocks	139	(3)
Recording and reinvesting dividends from stocks	142	(1)
Recording stock splits, short sells, margin purchases, and other esoterica	143	(2)
Handling Mutual Funds	145	(2)
Recording the sale or purchase of mutual funds	145	(1)
Recording dividends and distributions	145	(2)
Handling Bonds	147	(3)
Recording the purchase of a bond	148	(2)
Recording interest payments from bonds	150	(1)
Other Kinds of Investments	150	(1)
Precious metals	151	(1)
Certificates of deposit	151	(1)
Editing and Deleting Investment and Retirement Account Transactions	151	(1)
Updating the Price of Securities	152	(5)
Downloading stock and mutual fund quotes from the Internet	153	(1)
Updating the price of securities on your own	154	(3)
Researching and Analyzing Your Investments	157	(12)
Analyzing Your Investments	157	(3)
Charting the Performance of an Investment	160	(1)
Reviewing Your Portfolio	161	(1)
Seeing How Well Your Investments Are Allocated	162	(1)
Generating Investment Reports	163	(1)
Being Alerted When a Security Hits a Certain Price	163	(2)
Researching Investments at MoneyCentral	165	(1)
Other Ways to Research Investments Online	166	(3)
Researching mutual funds on the Internet	166	(1)
Researching stocks on the Internet	167	(2)
Part IV: Getting Your Money's Worth	169	(74)
Some Important Housekeeping Chores	171	(18)
Backing Up and Restoring Money Files	171	(5)
Telling Money how to back up your financial data	172	(2)
Backing up your data file	174	(1)
Restoring a file from its backup copy	175	(1)
Transferring Your Money File to a New Computer	176	(1)
Pruning the Payees List	177	(1)
Organizing Your Favorite Accounts, Reports, and Web Sites	178	(1)
Protecting Files with Passwords or Passport	178	(4)
Locking a file with a password or NET passport	179	(1)
Opening a file that has been given a password	180	(2)
Changing and removing passwords	182	(1)
Deleting and Closing Bank Accounts	182	(2)
Closing an account	183	(1)
Deleting an account	184	(1)
Creating an Archive File for Past Transactions	184	(1)
Creating a Separate File for Financial Activity	185	(2)
Creating the separate file	185	(1)
Opening the Money file you want to work with	186	(1)
Renaming and Deleting Files	187	(2)
Pinching Your Pennies	189	(24)
Being Alerted to Excessive Spending	189	(2)
Scheduling Bills So That They're Paid on Time	191	(8)
Scheduling a bill payment or deposit	192	(3)
How Money tells you to pay bills	195	(1)
Scheduling deposits, transfers, and investment purchases	196	(1)
Recording a scheduled transaction in a register	196	(2)
Skipping a scheduled transaction	198	(1)
Changing a scheduled transaction	198	(1)
Canceling a scheduled transaction	199	(1)
Budgeting with Money	199	(12)
Choosing between advanced and essential budgets	200	(2)
Getting started with an advanced budget	202	(1)
Enter your income: Telling Money about your income	202	(3)
Enter your expenses: Budgeting your monthly expenses	205	(1)
Savings goals: Declaring what to do with extra money	206	(1)
Budget summary and status	207	(1)
Formulating an essential budget	208	(1)
Seeing whether you met your budget goals	209	(2)
Working with more than one budget	211	(1)
Tracking Your Frequent Flyer Miles	211	(2)
Planning for the Years Ahead	213	(16)
Being Alerted to Important Events	213	(2)
Projecting Your Cash Flow	215	(2)
Introducing the Lifetime Planner	217	(9)
About you: Telling Money about yourself and your dependents	219	(1)
Income: Describing your present and future income	220	(1)
Taxes & Inflation: Describing the tax and inflation rate	220	(1)
Savings & Investments: Describing your retirement savings	221	(1)
Expected Return: Describing how your money will grow	222	(1)
Homes & Assets: Describing things of value that you own or will own	222	(1)
Loans & Debt: Describing current and future loans	223	(1)
Expenses: Describing the cost of living	223	(1)
Results: Reading your financial future	224	(1)
Action Plan: What you should do next	225	(1)
Playing ``what if'' with your future	225	(1)
Planning to Get Out of Debt	226	(3)
Preparing for Tax Time	229	(14)
Tagging Categories for Tax-Reporting Purposes	229	(3)
Looking at Line-Item Income and Expenses	232	(1)
Generating Tax Reports	233	(1)
Estimating Your Tax Bill	233	(3)
Scheduling Important Tax Dates	236	(1)
Getting Help for Lowering Your Tax Bill	236	(1)
Determining How Much to Withhold	237	(1)
Estimating Capital Gains Taxes	238	(2)
Exporting Money Data to a Tax-Preparation Program	240	(2)
Getting Tax Help on the Internet	242	(1)
Part V: Improving Your Financial Picture	243	(42)
Reports and Charts for Seeing Where You Stand Financially	245	(22)
A Look at the Reports Home Window	246	(2)
Looking at the Different Reports	248	(7)
Income and Expenses	248	(1)
Investment	249	(2)
Assets and Liabilities	251	(2)
Taxes	253	(1)
Comparison Reports: For comparing the past with the present	254	(1)
Monthly Reports	255	(1)
My Favorites	255	(1)
Creating a Reports or Chart	255	(3)
Generating the report or chart	255	(1)
Turning reports into charts and charts into reports	256	(1)
Investigating the figures from which a chart or report is constructed	257	(1)
Customizing Reports and Charts	258	(5)
Rows & Columns tab: Changing the rows and columns	259	(1)
Chart tab: Choosing chart types and other chart options	260	(1)
Date tab: Changing the date range	261	(1)
Account tab: Choosing accounts for the report or chart	261	(1)
Category tab: Excluding categories from reports and charts	261	(1)
Payee tab: Excluding payers and income sources	261	(1)
Text tab: Using text criteria to gather data	261	(1)
Details tab: Gathering data on the basis of type and status	262	(1)
Amount tab: Querying by amount	262	(1)
Classification tab: Including classes and subclasses in reports	262	(1)
Fonts tab: Changing how reports and charts look	262	(1)
Adding a Customized Report or Chart to the Favorites Menu	263	(1)
Printing Reports and Charts	263	(1)
Getting ready to print a report or chart	263	(1)
Printing the report or chart	264	(1)
Exporting a Report or Chart	264	(3)
Tracking Assets, Liabilities, Loans, and Mortgages	267	(18)
Understanding How to Track Assets, Liabilities, Loans, and Mortgages with Money	268	(1)
Tracking the Value of a House or Other Asset	269	(4)
Setting up an asset or house account	269	(2)
Recording changes in the value of an asset or house	271	(2)
Tracking Your Liabilities	273	(1)
Tracking Loans and Mortgages	273	(12)
Setting up a loan or mortgage account	274	(5)
Fixing loan or mortgage account errors	279	(1)
Recording loan and mortgage payments	280	(1)
Paying early and often	281	(2)
Adjusting loan account balances	283	(1)
Updating the interest rate on a loan or mortgage	284	(1)
Part VI: Going Online with Money	285	(22)
Getting Ready to Go Online	287	(10)
Reviewing the Online Services That Money Offers	287	(2)
Laying the Groundwork	289	(1)
The equipment you need	289	(1)
Disabling call waiting	290	(1)
Signing Up with Your Bank	290	(3)
Setting Up a Money Account So That It Works Online	293	(1)
Setting up an account for Web services	294	(1)
Setting up an account for direct services	294	(1)
Signing Up for MSN Bill Pay	294	(1)
Changing Your Mind about the Online Banking Services	295	(2)
Banking and Bill Paying Online	297	(10)
Sending Banking Instructions over the Internet	297	(2)
Banking Online	299	(5)
Getting accurate, up-to-date account information	299	(3)
Viewing and updating a register whose transactions you downloaded	302	(2)
Paying the Bills Online	304	(3)
Recording the online payment	305	(1)
Stopping a payment after it's sent	306	(1)
Transferring money between accounts	306	(1)
Part VII: The Part of Tens	307	(22)
Ten Things You Should Do Periodically	309	(4)
Back Up Your Data File	309	(1)
Update Your Savings and Checking Account Registers	310	(1)
Balance Your Accounts	310	(1)
Balance Your Credit Card Accounts	310	(1)
Personalize the Home Page	311	(1)
Generate a Monthly Income and Expenses Report	311	(1)
Print Your Account Registers	311	(1)
Make an Archive File and Put It Away	312	(1)
Prune Your Payee List	312	(1)
Stop and Smell the Roses	312	(1)
Ten Ways to Good Health --- Financially Speaking, That Is	313	(4)
Record Credit Card Transactions As You Make Them	313	(1)
Pay Off All Your Credit Card Debt	314	(1)
Leave Your Plastic at Home	314	(1)
Create a Spending by Category Chart	314	(1)
Create a Monthly Income and Expenses Report	315	(1)
Create a Budget	315	(1)
Plan Ahead for Your Retirement	315	(1)
Set Aside Money for a Rainy Day	315	(1)
Make Like a Young Dog --- Learn New Tricks	316	(1)
Take the Day Off	316	(1)
Ten Things to Do If You Are Self-Employed	317	(6)
Diligently Record Your Financial Activity	317	(1)
Make Sure That All Tax-Related Expenses Are Marked As Such	318	(1)
Print a Tax-Related Transactions Report for Your Accountant	318	(1)
Use the Memo Box Early and Often	319	(1)
Set Aside a Tenth of Your Income in a Savings Account	319	(1)
Schedule Your Quarterly Tax Payments	319	(1)
Use Classifications to Track Business Expenses	320	(1)
Open a Checking Account for Business Transactions	320	(1)
Write a Check to Yourself Periodically	320	(1)
Keep Your Irons on the Fire	321	(2)
Ten Things Ex-Quicken Users Should Know about Money	323	(6)
You Can Use Your Old Quicken File in Money	324	(1)
You Can Find the Modified Transactions	325	(1)
Some Things Are Lost in the Conversion	325	(1)
Some Quicken Features Have No Equivalent in Money	325	(1)
In Money, Transactions Are Entered on Forms	325	(1)
Some Old Bank Transactions Are Not Shown as Reconciled	326	(1)
Your Quicken Checks Are Good in Money	326	(1)
Quicken's Online Banking Services Are No Good with Money	327	(1)
Your Payee List Is Way, Way Too Long	327	(1)
Money Offers Help for Quicken Users	327	(2)
Glossary of Financial Terms	329	(4)
Index	333