Hi Chris,

First, I want to point you to the list of Frequently Asked Questions for
this newsgroup at http://www.bollar.org/msmoney/ I think this will prove
an invaluable reference to show you how other people are doing things in
Money.

As for your questions:

Questions 1 and 2: Categorization is always a matter of personal
preference. How detailed do you want to see your reports? Do you want to
see that you spend $300 on Food: Grocercies this month or do you want to
see that you spent $17 on Food: Milk, $23.37 on Food: Soda, $57.81 on Food:
Frozen Pizza, etc. ?

Since you really don't remember what some of the transactions were, I'd
recommend categorizing new transactions sooner after they occur to keep
yourself up to date. Having some uncategorized prior transactions isn't
really going to hurt much except your reports for knowing how much you spent
on something in a particular month.

Likewise, I wouldn't worry too much about the specific categorization for
Electronics: DVD player and Electronics: TV since you probably won't need
to look back and see how much you spent in such a narrow category in any
given month. You may want to use the Household category and not use a
sub-category. It's really a matter of personal preference.

3. Since you spend money out of your checkings or savings account to
purchase supplies to repair the window, you'll want to categorize those
expenses under some type of repairs category. You'll want to check with
your tax preparer as to whether you can actually deduct this expense on your
tax return. Improvements you can, but repairs I don't think so. . .
Therefore, you really don't need to do anything to the asset in Money since
fixing a broken window hasn't really increased your property value.

4. An asset is any item of value that you own. Technically, a TV has value
and you own it, so you could set up an asset account for it in Money, but I
think this is going to be another question of personal preference. Since
you are just starting out, I'd say enter the big stuff and see how detailed
you want to get, because it could get pretty cumbersome as you aquire more
and more items of value. Better off keeping these in an inventory. Taking
a picture is good---it proves the location in the house and that you owned
it. Serial numbers are also good in case it gets stolen. You do not
'transfer' items from the account you used to purchase to the home inventory
as this section is all entered independantly of these areas.

Good luck, Chris!! Hope this helped.


"Chris" <barfarf[at]yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:3f6b62d5.0312050736.37f34517[at]posting.google.com...
- quote -

Hello, I just purchased Money 2004 Premium and I have a few newbie
financing / accounting questions.

A little bit about me:

This year I brought my very first house and I thought it would be a
swell idea to get a handle on my spending habits and get ready for
this new tax and deductible stuff I will have to deal with. For
previous years I just did the standard deduction. I also have done all
my own taxes using paper now I use TaxCut for the past two years. I
am 27 never bothered to balance a check in my life (I know I know I am
bad bad person, yet I have over draft protection which I used once).
I?m single and make about 30K along with some stocks. I usually don?t
carry cash and prefer credit cards. My interest for credit cards is
usually 0% cuz every 6 months or year I switch to a new credit card or
I just pay off the balance. My credit score is around 740. I hope
that is enough info to get an idea of where I am coming from. Any
question or suggestions are appreciated.


Current Status with Money 2004:

After some time I successfully manage to electronically connect with
Amertrade/Datek and download all credit cards and bank statements for
the past 6 months. I got my house mortgage, school loan and wages
from my job in. I even watch all the videos and looked at the online
manual trying to learn this new world of person financing. I am
getting excited about categorizing my spending and seeing nifty charts
and stuff and maybe even make a plan or a budget, o-boy. Really I am
just trying to be positive but all of this looks really tedious and
time consuming partly why I never bothered to balance my check book.


The questions:::::::::

Categories:
1. So now I have all these statements download and I am starting to
try to categorize them. For some of them I don?t remember what the
expensive are for what should I do for those?

2. I just purchased a 27? TV and DVD player for a really good deal on
black Friday . Its my only TV and DVD player, the house is pretty
empty. But I don?t know what category to put it in. Leisure ? Home
furnishing? Its not a couch. Should I make a new category? What
should it be?

3. It?s an old house and its need some fixing up. I fixed my first
ever broken window. I will not mention how long it took. =) So the
house improvements are tax deductible or something right? Money
tells me not to categorize it as household expenses but to put it to
my house asset account. But money does not tell me how to do this.

Assets:
4. Are the TV and DVD player mentioned above assets? Should I put
it my house inventory or something? Do I really need take a picture
of it and enter the serial number incase the house burns down or
something? How do I transfer it from the credit card account to my
house inventory?

Does anyone actually use all the million of features in money I feel
that I have I must use it all. Hahahahah I will mad I think. =)
Well that?s it for now I feel like I am blindly doing things. If
anyone has suggestions or comments I?ll appreciated it.

Thanks

Chris