Australian Money Forum

[alfie]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone can suggest a program similar to Microsoft's Money Essentials (http://www.microsoft.com/money/ProductD ... b=Overview) which is unfortnately not available here.

I'm specifically looking for a program which has a feature similar to Money Essentials "Budget Summary" (http://www.microsoft.com/money/ProductD ... b=Features – bottom of the page).

https://www.clearcheckbook.com/premium is another option, just looking for something like this to be based on my PC – anything with a mobile component (running WM6.1) is a bonus.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[sjsh]

As no one has bothered to reply to your post, I hope you won't feel this reply is hijacking your question. As I don't use PDA equipment for finances I can only comment on software you would use on your notebook/desktop, some of which may also be configurable for PDAs etc. This topic in general is very important to most of us who want to actively track their finances. Yet strangely very little of any great value is on the net re personal software. Especially so if you are used to Quicken and MS Money. As a user of Quicken since 1993 I am totally over this bloatware and won't continue my subscription. For God's sake, the bloody program that you must pay $75 pa to use, won't even update shares prices till at least after 8pm each night at the earliest! Unfortunately MS Money (i've used this happily since the first freebie release for Win95) is no longer being developed for "Australia" and probably worldwide. Hence over the last year or so i've tried out many programs. Don't much care for Gnucash. But i really like ifreebudget very much it's free and totally configurable, also has a nice share price chart etc. Can also download and import your bank statements through an MS Money/Quicken import format. Have been using the registered version of acemoney for five years and it imports bank data easily too. It has perhaps the best user forum for personal finance software you could ever find. But at the end of the day I have been forced to teach myself excel to create the most meaningful data returns for my share portfolio and my day to day finances. Again the very few and far between excel based programs on the net didn't have anything near to the type of MS Money/Quicken styles. At the end of the day for those of us who want accurate records of income and expenditure to pass on to our accountants we don't need bloatware. Thorough but simple is the go. I really hope that this thread will take off so that those of us who want to manage our finances in a similar but simpler and frankly a better way than quicken, and to a much lesser extent the now defunct ms money, will have a meaningful discussion home on this forum, coz there surely aint nothing no where else!

[volitans]

Hi Guys,
I only joined the forum a few minutes ago hence my late inclusion on this topic.

I too hope this thread takes off as I also am seeking an easy inexpensive (read here "free if possible") home financial package.
I have been using Quicken 2002 (since 02 - had earlier editions before this) and only continue to perservere because once they get their claws into you they are like hyenas on a carcass - they just won't let go!
I can't complain about their customer service as there is none. Surprisingly (to Quicken/Intuit/Reckon) since 2002 I have actually updated my PC (several times) because re-installing Quicken on the new machines is like pulling teeth from a grissly bear without anaesthetics. The re-registration process is designed from the POV that I must be a thief who has pirated a copy of their overpriced software and not a legitimate owner/user who has just bought a new PC.
Add to that the fact that they stopped offering support for me (my 2002 edition) by 2004

I'm sorry that I can't offer an alternative as there seems to be few options for Oz but one day.........

Gaz

[sjsh]

All, I have ditched Quicken even though my sub doesn't end till Jan 2010...it's total bloatware and the inability to update stock prices till post 8pm each trading day was TOTALLY unacceptible for an annual sub of $75!!!!...useless...I have used Quicken since 1993 too, but too bad they have lost a customer..
BUT the following FREEWARE is exceptionally good.. http://sourceforge.net/projects/mjrz/ ...In fact i ditched quicken for this one!
Acemoney is another good program, but i am increasingly happy with iFreeBudget.
MS Money is still more useful that quicken..it DOES do intraday stock updates! The latest and final ever version for use in Australia is 14.0.120.1105 MS Money will work till 2011...
The task of learning MS Excel to manage ALL your finances is also worthwhile...I spent weeks creating a killer spreadsheet which gives me all the info i need about all my finances and is able to update stock prices throughout the day..
All i can say is shame Quicken Australia, shame....

[volitans]

Today I found another (Australian) budget program.
I will be going into Officeworks to check it out this week. At $49 it might be worth a try.
It is called (imaginatively ) "Home Budget" by an Adelaide company called Zoom.
See http://www.zoomsoftware.com.au/products.htm

If anyone has heard anything about this please speak up.
Gaz

[sjsh]

Today I found another (Australian) budget program.
I will be going into Officeworks to check it out this week. At $49 it might be worth a try.
It is called (imaginatively ) "Home Budget" by an Adelaide company called Zoom.
See http://www.zoomsoftware.com.au/products.htm

If anyone has heard anything about this please speak up.
Gaz

Please let us know what you think! I see it allows a limited functionality version. Maybe you could try it and let us know whether you will be buying it and why?

[volitans]

I will have to delay an evaluation result as the copy I bought from Officeworks today is faulty. ("Unable to unpack cabinet file")

Not a good start.

Gaz

[sjsh]

I think you should probably get a refund and download ifreebudget and fiddle around with it and see if it will do everything you need. You can always buy another copy of the dud software later on after it's had the bugs ironed out...or teach yourself to configure excel to do your finances EXACTLY as you want them...

[volitans]

Well, I did take the faulty copy back and without a moments hesitation Officeworks offered exchange or refund. I chose to exchange.
I installed (without any difficulty) as soon as I got home and on first opening the software connected to the net and downloaded an upgrade.
Sadly it all started to unravel. IE began to crash. To complete the instal, the program had 1st required (and installed) microsoft .net framework software. I have used this before on my PC (all this is happening on my wife's laptop) and had nothing but trouble with my PC, especially IE, until I uninstalled it. The same problems were now causing this laptop's IE to crash and it has taken me 6 hours to get it back up and going. To do that I had to uninstal ALL the new software to uninstal microsoft .net framework then reinstall IE.
I don't know if anyone else has had problems with this 'framework crap' but it has only caused me grief.
Guess what? Tomorrow the software goes back to Officeworks.

Will look at ifreebudget (as you suggested) or go back to Quicken (oops, nearly threw up typing that! )

[sjsh]

I downloaded the trialware version of Home Budget from the website you provided. That version installed ok on windows 7. No apparent associated glitches. Had a quick look and it reminded me of a bulkier version of ifreebudget. But with no stockmarket ability that i could see. While i liked the simple english explanations that guide you i still felt that ifreebudget beats all others hands down. But i do still like MS money and will keep using that till it conks out in 2011.

[bllich_man2]

ifreebudget is really neat and simple, awesome tool.

http://www.ifreebudget.com/screenshots.html?view=gallery&folder=iFreeBudget+screenshots

[BobS]

I have been using Flair Finance for my accounting, it is pretty simple.
http://www.flairfinance.com/
http://www.flairfinance.com/tips.html
http://www.flairfinance.com/badge.html

[chrisadam]

New nonprofit leaders and managers have to develop at least basic skills in financial management. Expecting others in the organization to manage finances is clearly asking for trouble. Basic skills in financial management start in the critical areas of cash management and bookkeeping, which should be done according to certain financial controls to ensure integrity in the bookkeeping process. New leaders and managers should soon go on to learn how to generate financial statements (from bookkeeping journals) and analyze those statements to really understand the financial condition of the business. Financial analysis shows the "reality" of the situation of a business -- seen as such, financial management is one of the most important practices in management. This topic will help you understand basic practices in financial management, and build the basic systems and practices needed in a healthy business.


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