On 2005-01-13, Chris Cowles <NoSpam[at]For.me> wrote:
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And, of course, since you can't manually remove a scheduled payment
from your budget, you're stuck. (Well, I can't do it in M04.
I never tried in 01-03. I assume you can't do it in 05, either.)

If you could manually remove a scheduled payment from the budget,
then you could enter a normal budget item and you'd get the
functionality that you want.

So basically, there are two schools of thought when it comes
to budgeting. First, the majority viewpoint is that you set
up a budget at the beginning of your fiscal year, and it never
changes throughout the year - Quicken's budget does this. Second,
my viewpoint is that a budget is a plan for spending, and when
something happens in the year to change your plan, then your budget
must change also - Money's budget does this.

Unfortunately, if you use the second budgeting style, you're going
to prefer Money's budget, because it's nearly impossible to use the
other style in Money. Conversely, if you like the first style,
you're going to use Quicken, because using the second style in
Quicken requires additional effort which is prone to errors.

Ok. I think I understand now. With Money, you're forced into
Money's style of budgeting. With Quicken, you can do either style,
but it's a pain to do Money's style.

I can understand the arguments either way but side with Steve on this. Money
changes my budget retrospectively when I change a bill, which is wrong.
--
Chris Cowles,
Gainesville, FL

"SJCOHEN730" <sjcohen730[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:20050112203100.06602.00000065[at]mb-m20.aol.com...
- quote -

On 2005-01-13, SJCOHEN730 <sjcohen730[at]aol.com> wrote:
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I'm not an accountant. Still I view my budget is my plan for
spending. And sometimes that plan has to change mid-stream.
For example, if my cable company raises their rates in July I have
two choices. Either, I'm going to decide that I'm going to keep
paying that bill, and I have to reallocate funds from something
else in order to cover that expense, or I'm going to drop cable,
and I've got more money that I will put into savings. In either
case, if I don't do something, my budget is not going to reflect
the fact that my spending plan changed.

- quote -

I've been doing it in Money for 4 years. If I make $40k and I want
to put $5k into savinngs, I'd simply add a semi-monthly scheduled
transaction for my income for $1458.33 ($35,000 / 24) and a monthly
scheduled transfer to savings for $416.67 ($5000 / 12). I'd also
set up a scheduled trnansaction for each of my bills.

Doing it this way makes it really easy to set up my discretionary
spending items in my budget. After I've got everything that's
scheduled, I simply dole out whatever's left over for eating out,
golf, etc. If I need to make a change in the middle of the year, it
simply means that I reallocate something from discretionary spending.

I'm confused as to why this is hard.

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That's exactly why it's so important that I track things with scheduled
transactions. Twice a year (May & November) I have to pay car insurance.
During those months, I spend way more than I take in. But because I've got
each of those expenses scheduled, I can easily compare how my spending is
matching my plan. In those months, Money knows I'm going to spend about
$500 more than I earn. But Money lets me know that I'm still on budget
when that happens.

Cheers,
- Mark

- quote -

When I think of comparing my actual expenses to my budget, I really
do NOT want my budget to change. Yes, I know Money automatically changes your
budget when you schedule something at a different amount, but that is NOT the
way I learned to budget. And I am an accountant. You see, there are different
types of budgets. Money's is like a forecast. But if you know you make, say
$40,000 a year and you want to set a budget with say $35,000 in expenses and
$5,000 in savings, it is almost impossible to manage that in Money.If you go
out and overspend your budget by $1,000 in January, Money assumes you will be
$1,000 overspent for the whole year. It doesn't assume you may underspend your
budget by $500 in May and October and in fact be right on budget for the year.
And also there are other bugs in the budget program so don't get too hung up on
what Money tries to tell you. Use your head. Good luck. Steve

On 2004-12-30, rc60477 <rc60477[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
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I tried switching to Quicken. I'm not particularly fond of M05, but I
don't like Quicken. The main thing that I dislike is that I manage my
budget and fixed expenses through scheduled transactions. In Money,
scheduled transactions automatically show up in the budget. In Quicken,
you have to manually keep scheduled transactions synced in your budget. So
if you change a transaction amount in the scheduled transaction part, you
have to also remember to change it in the budget.

That really bugs me. So I'm just sticking w/M04. Maybe I'll change
my mind with Q06 or M06.

Yes, stay away from MS Money 2005. Go with Quicken instead. Reason being,
MS Money 2005 is actually a major rewrite, with major issues. I used MS
Money 99, 01, 02, 03, 04 with no problems, and absolutely loved it for its
intuitiveness and stability. However, 2005 is a disaster. If you decide
to install MS Money 2004, you will not have any problems, but you may have
problems installing MS Money 2006 when it is released late next year, because
the MS Money 2005 version aggressively reformats the 2004 money file,
thereby, destabilizing MS Money 2005; therefore, the 2004 file conversion
will be even more unsuccessful when you jump from 2004 to 2006 version.


"shokat" wrote:

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Hi Shokat,

I just switched to M05 recently to replace my M02. It's ok, but I like my
2002 version better.

Every version has its quirks, so my advice is if you like the version you're
using, stick with it.

Regards,

Gary

"shokat" <shokat[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CCAFD417-4659-46CC-8055-79B3CE17E421[at]microsoft.com...
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I think your subject says it all. See my reasons I decided it was a mistake
for me and decided to not recommend M05 to others at
http://umpmfaq.info/Money2005.htm. Some people come here saying they like
M05. Far more come here with a different reaction. That may not represent
results for all users.

"shokat" <shokat[at]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CCAFD417-4659-46CC-8055-79B3CE17E421[at]microsoft.com...
- quote -

from some of the postings I have read it sounds like M04 gets better reviews
then 05. I am new to money and am wondering if I would be better off going
and getting 04 before they stop selling it.