I installed PPC Money and it is ok. Rather simplistic
and feature poor, but good enough to study some of my
accounts while riding the train. I also downloaded the
Money2004 free trial, and loaded up an old copy of my
files from Quicken2003. Money looks great and I will
definitely switch when 2005 arrives. I was able to
use "classifications" to sub-divide my savings account
and the reporting seemed pretty intuitive.
Thanks for your help.
Bill
- quote -

That's perfect. Sounds like it will work fine for my
purposes. Now I just have to wait till 9/15 for 2005,
since MSM2004 won't inport my Quicken2004 files. I
downloaded MSM2004 for Pocket PC and will try that
tonight, although I suspect the interface will be
considerably different.
Bill
- quote -

In microsoft.public.money, Bill Howell wrote:

- quote -

That feature is not unique.

Hi Amy,
No, MS Money for PPC is still free. My comment was that
Quicken for PPC is $29 and that of course, is because
it's marketed by a 3rd party, not Intuit.
2mb vs 12mb for backups? Ouch. Although Cal has
suggested a USB memory device which at today's prices
could be dedicated to money and just left plugged in all
the time.
I have also recently switched to epmts directly from my
own bank, so this point is not really an issue. I was
just making the point that Intuit sometimes takes years
to fix minor bugs.

Bill
- quote -

In microsoft.public.money, Bill Howell wrote:

- quote -

I tried what I think you described. I made a copy of my Money 2004
file, and opened it. I created a classification called TestClass. I
created a Transfer and rather than fill in the sub-category as the
transfer account, I clicked Split. I entered two transfers to a
given account, but gave different classifications to each transfer.

This appeared as a single transaction in the account I entered the
transaction into, and was a single line in the register (having
selected that mode). At the other end it appeared as two separate
transactions.

I did not know I could do this, but I don't plan to actually do it
in my real file. ;-) Reports can be customized to include
classifications or to limit that report to particular
classifications.

I don't normally track things to that detail, but if I had a desire
to track something like this, I might transfer funds to my "In
Transit" account, and make individual disbursements of the pieces
from there. I think some call this a suspense account.

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 10:27:02 -0700, "Bill Howell" <cwhowell[at]nac.netwrote:

- quote -

in Quicken is about 2 mb, the same backup file in
Money is about 12mb.

- quote -

lets me pay bills on line for free.

- quote -

on my hp680 I'm forever locked into Money 2000. Microsoft
wrote off the HPC platform after 2000.

Pocket Quicken on the Dell Axim X5 was $29.00.

They now charge for Money for the PPC? Great. Now I have the
privelage of paying for Money to crash my ppc.
- quote -



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Thanks again for the reply. I'll have to do some more
homework to see how I could manage a single savings
account, but still be able to identify the split deposits
with subtotals. Maybe it won't be an issue with Money.
All I need is, to be able to make a split deposit into
the savings account with 5 different categories and be
able to report on their subtotals. The reason that
Quicken can't do that is because a transfer from checking
to savings (for instance) uses the category field to
identify the receiving account. Since it does not have
sub-accounts, they use "classes" to identify the split
amounts for later reporting. A typical transfer would go
to account [savings]/FuelOil. I just need to be able to
run a quick report to see how much money is in the Life
Insurance account and how much is in the Fuel Oil account
etc, when in reality, it is only one savings account. Of
course I could do that on a separate spreadsheet, but
that would be a nuisance.
Bill
- quote -

In microsoft.public.money, Bill Howell wrote:

- quote -

Sounds strange. I don't use epay myself.

- quote -

Money does not have sub-accounts. There is a budgeting system that
feeds off of scheduled bills and other things.

Money does optionally have up to two "classifications" with two
levels each. They are like a different dimension of categories. They
are not an asset allocation scheme.

Hi Cal,
Thanks for the reply. Here is some clarification:
1. In Quicken, when you send an ePmt, the program
automatically adds 4 business days to the current date.
The annoying thing is that if the following month I
decide to mail a paper check, Quicken still adds the 4
days to the date when I enter the check in the register.
This is clearly a bug and has no purpose, but it's been
there for many years.
2. My 5mb backup file is due to the archive weeknesses.
I have not trimmed my Quicken files in over 10 years.
But I like your idea of using a USB memory stick for
backup. I have been using a 1gb JAZ drive which can be
clumbsy.
3. A real important Quicken feature that I don't want to
do without is account sub-classes. I use a savings
account to accumulate several non-monthly payments.
Quarterly life insurance, semi-annual Fuel oil, etc.
Each payday I put a fixed amount into savings to cover
all the (virtual) sub-accounts. Then when the oil
company sends the bill, I have the amount subdivided in
the one savings account. I simply transfer the saved
amount to my checking account. Quicken makes this easy
to track and report on. Categories are not sufficient
(in Quicken) as it's impossible to transfer money using
only categories.

Thanks for your help.
Bill

In microsoft.public.money, Bill Howell wrote:

- quote -

I don't know what that means, but it is possible to configure
whether epays are listed on the date scheduled or date paid -- or
however it's worded...

- quote -

Possibly based on how much data you have. Recorded security prices
are a big factor here. USB flash drives are nice.

- quote -

Don't know. Most people choose not to archive. Money has no way to
re-integrate an archive into your continuing Money file.

- quote -

You can change what the "home" screen shows for startup. In fact,
you don't even have to start up at the "home" screen; I like the
account list as the place to start.


- quote -

Yes. You can choose 1 line or more.

- quote -

It's called balancing in Money.

You should judge for yourself how easy it is with the trial version
of Money 2005 which would be anticipated for the September timeframe
based on previous years.

Normally it is a pretty easy process. Sometimes people have to
resort to the QIF export and import, but not often.

Change all custom types to standard Quicken types. Any custom type
will be converted to type Mutual Fund by Money.

It is often suggested to do a Validate and a Super-validate in
Quicken before the conversion.
http://www.intuit.com/support/quicke.../win/6148.html seems to
imply that there could be a problem with that. So you might try
the conversion with and without doing that.

When it appears, the trial version could be shown at
http://www.microsoft.com/money/info/quicken.asp among other places.
If the same holds from earlier years, the trial is fully functional
for 60 days except that the video help and sounds are not included.
While you can upgrade without getting a CD, most people suggest
buying Money in the retail package so that you get the CD.

You can have both Money and Quicken installed. The only thing is
that QIF and perhaps some other file types will be associated with
the last-installed. So if you decided to not continue with Money,
you would probably want to re-install Quicken.

I recently bought Money 2004, but had to return it when I
found out it would not import my Quicken 2004 files. But
I haven't given up yet on Money. I have cancelled my
Quicken online BillPay service as my bank now offers the
same service (for free). I now have no more reason to
stay with Quicken which has some minor but annoying
problems as far as I'm concerned. Can anyone comment on
the following Quicken issues and tell me if Money has the
same problems?
Thanks,
Bill
------ Complaints about Quicken:
1.EPmt followed by paper results in automatic date jump.
2.Backup file is too large (5mb+)
3.End of Year archiving full of problems especially with
sub-categories and classes.
4.Changing options like auto pmt scheduling is not
intuitive.
5.Default home screen is cluttered and confusing.
6.Pocket PC version is not free ($29)

Quicken good stuff:
1.Classes (sub-categories) useful for virtual sub-
accounts. (Saving up for semi-annual fuel-oil etc.)
2.End of year report of Charity (category) expenditures
easy to do.
3.Flexible register format. (I like 1 liners)
4.Easy, straight forward account reconciliation.