Microsoft^® Money 2005 For Dummies^®

, by Peter Weverka (San Francisco, California)

Note: Supplemental materials are not guaranteed with Rental or Used book purchases.

ISBN: 9780764573033 | 0764573039
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 10/1/2004

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* 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

Introduction

(1)

About This Book

(1)

Foolish Assumptions

(1)

Conventions Used in This Book

(1)

Icons Used in This Book

(2)

Part I: Setting Up and Starting Out

(62)

Introducing Money

(10)

Starting Money

(1)

Creating a shortcut icon for Money

(1)

Pinning Money to the Start menu

(1)

Starting Money for the First Time

(2)

How Money Can Help You with Your Finances

(4)

Keeping accurate records of your spending and income

(1)

Categorizing your spending and income

(1)

Estimating your income taxes

(1)

Handling your investments

(1)

Pinching your pennies

(1)

Planning ahead

(1)

Banking online

(1)

Shutting Down Money

(2)

The Basics

(10)

Getting Around in Money

(4)

Links for going from window to window

(1)

Toolbar buttons for getting around

(1)

Tabs for going to different windows

(2)

Customizing the Home Page Window

(2)

Browsing the Web in Money

(1)

Customizing the Toolbar

(3)

Setting Up Your Accounts

(12)

Accounts and Registers for Recording Financial Transactions

(3)

The Basics: Setting Up Checking and Savings Accounts

(4)

Setting up a checking or savings account

(2)

Listing contact names, phone numbers, and other information

(2)

Changing an Account's Name or Type

(1)

Setting Up an Account to Track Credit Card and Line of Credit Transactions

(4)

Recording Your Financial Activity

(28)

Opening an Account Register

(3)

Recording Transactions in Registers

(5)

Splitting a Transaction

(2)

Recording a Deposit or Debit Card Purchase with Cash Back

(2)

Transferring Money between Accounts

(1)

Recording Transactions in Credit Card and Line of Credit Accounts

(3)

Recording credit card and line of credit charges

(2)

Recording a credit

(1)

Recording a credit card payment

(1)

Fixing Mistakes in Account Registers

(6)

Finding a transaction so that you can fix it

(4)

Changing or editing transactions

(1)

Voiding and Deleting Transactions

(2)

Moving a Transaction from One Account to Another

(1)

Printing a Register

(3)

Part II: Banking with Money

(50)

Categorizing Your Spending and Income

(20)

Looking at the Ways to Categorize Income and Spending

(1)

By category

(1)

By subcategory

(1)

By classification

(1)

By tax-related status

(1)

Setting Up Your Own Categories and Subcategories

(4)

Creating a new category in the New Category dialog box

(2)

Creating a new subcategory

(1)

Editing and Refining a Category or Subcategory

(2)

Setting Up and Defining a Classification

(3)

Setting up a classification

(1)

Defining classes and subclasses

(1)

Correcting Transactions that Were Recorded in the Wrong Category

(4)

Moving all transactions from one category to another category

(1)

Reassigning transactions to new categories

(2)

Renaming and Deleting Categories and Classifications

(5)

Renaming a category or subcategory

(1)

Renaming a classification

(1)

Deleting a category or subcategory

(1)

Deleting a classification

(3)

Reconciling or Balancing an Account

(12)

How Reconciling Works

(1)

Balancing an Account

(5)

Telling Money which transactions cleared the bank

(3)

Fixing mistakes as you reconcile

(1)

Help! The Darn Thing Won't Reconcile!

(3)

A checklist of things to do if you can't reconcile

(2)

``AutoReconciling'' an account

(1)

Forcing an account to balance

(1)

Reconciling a Credit Card Account

(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

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Microsoft^® Money 2005 For Dummies^®

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

FREE SHIPPING

Amazon no longer offers textbook rentals. We do!

Microsoft® Money 2005 For Dummies®

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

Microsoft^® Money 2005 For Dummies^®