How To Use Microsoft Money

Using Microsoft Money can be a great way to monitor your monthly spending, create a budget, become debt free, or monitor investments. It has key features like bill pay, spending tracker, ability to view spending reports, or account management.   

When you first begin, you will need to establish a home page. This gives you a basic overview of accounts and spending habits when using Microsoft Money. The first step to creating a home page will be to add the accounts you will be monitoring. Having all the information in regards to the accounts you have selected will speed the process along. Click banking, click add new account, choose the type of account then click next. Once you have chosen your financial institution it is important that you have it activated for online use. This allows Microsoft Money the ability to retrieve and update your account information.     

Once all accounts have been added, you may proceed to setting up your online bill pay. Remember that in order for scheduled payments to be processed you will need an Internet connection. Click bills, then common tasks, click edit payment and enter all information. When complete, select the schedule payment option. You can also choose to pay several bills at once after you have added all payees to your Microsoft Money account. Also, you can select to have recurring payments on a bill by going under bills and selecting the bill calendar tab. After you add the new payee onto your bill calendar select okay and it will appear on your bill summary.     

Now it is time to manage your accounts and categorize your transactions. Select banking, click account, click the drop-down list, record changes and save. This allows you to use Microsoft Money to categorize the transactions of your choice.  It’s also easy to compare your spending by going to reports and select the spending by category comparison option.  Also, there are options to change your account, close your account, or edit as needed.     

The budget option gives you the ability to monitor expenses and establish a spending tracker. All expenses can be sorted by categories.  First, click budget, choose detail level, enter income, select categories, and enter expenses. When finished, select spending categories that will appear on your home page. To view all expenses, click on the budget summary tab.      

Using Microsoft Money has endless possibilities, from basic budgeting to managing investments. Whatever your need may be it can help you achieve your financial goals.