Microsoft Money 2003 Standard

If you need to apply some sort of order to your finances, Microsoft Money offers a wealth of features that aim to keep personal finances manageable.

One of the most obvious features in its 2003 edition is a Bills Outbox. This allows users to batch all their bills together, enter them in advance of their due date, sort them by category and then settle them all at once.

To help with cash flow, there is also an option to estimate the cost of bills before they arrive, based on ones that have come in the past. The new Comparison Reports take this a step further, helping users to analyse spending from one period to another.

The Investment Portfolio automatically tracks user's investments including stocks, funds and bonds to ensure your information is regularly updated.

Money can help you to control your everyday finances using the Lifetime Planner. Forecasting cash flow, planning for retirement or saving to buy a house or car can all be planned using the software and the information it holds about your financial affairs.

There's even a Debt Reduction Planner that lets you experiment with different payment schemes if your problem is finding rather than managing money.

When applying for various insurances, companies often ask you to calculate your worth. Money has a tool for helping with this onerous task too in the form of the Worksheet Centre.

There are also worksheets to help you prepare your will, compile a set of personal and household records, and establish which of your income and expenditure relates to your tax liability.

The consequent tax data file can be exported for use by TaxSaver 2003 Deluxe but that crosses into small business territory.

Microsoft Money 2003 is heavy on online banking with its dedicated Online Services Manager, Background Banking to keep your information up to date, Register Reconciliation for automatic statement reconciliation and Password Manager to keep everything secure.

In fact, it depends to a large extent on services delivered through the internet, so much of its new functionality is unuseable if you haven't got such access.

DETAILS
Price: £30
Contact: Microsoft 0870 601 0100
www.microsoft.com/uk

Also Consider
Intuit Quicken 2002
Less reliant on the internet but similarly powerful.