Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Amazing, so glad I switched from Quicken Deluxe 2002
I have to admit, I was definitely reluctant to switch to MS Money. I love Quicken and have used it since it first came out. I switched to the deluxe version around 1995 and have bought the upgrade pretty much every year.I was about to buy my 2003 update when I was encouraged to try MS Money. Since I do always search for the best product, I hesistantly placed my order. I got it and can just say WOW. No regrets here on switching. I was really expecting to junk it and stick either get Quicken 2003 or stay with Quicken 2002. It does take a little getting used to MS Money. But, after a day or two, you are rockin' and rollin' as you would be on Quicken. Does this program do much that Quicken doesn't? Well, no. BUT, when you factor in the integration with MS Money Online, then you have a clear winner. Quicken.com is no where near as good as Money Buy it, try it, and you'll be a convert too. Admittedly, I haven't used Quicken Deluxe 2003, but the demo I downloaded didn't offer much more. All the reviews I've read really think both programs are about on par. Like the reviewers, I too believe the big advantage with MS Money is all the great things it does on the web. Free tax filing by H&R Block is an added bonus as is free first year of MSN online banking. Though I doubt I'll switch from my free internet bank.
Rating:  - OK only.
This program has been useful for tracking my day to day expenses and income. However, with my skills I could write a better and easier to use program if that was all I needed. As far as what I actually bought the program for, cash flow analysis and investment and retirement tracking, it is third rate. The pre-tax deductions from my paycheck do not translate directly into the retirement contributions. Also, I have to do an individual purchase of stocks in my 401k each paycheck. In reality the contribution is by percentage into each mutual fund. Money 2003 will not allow you to select percentages and automatically purchase mutual fund shares. Also, the portfolio analysis is the usual "don't sue us" pap. In order to track my total net worth in any kind of intelligent way I had to buy the cheesy investment tracking version. This should be standard as it is below par and not worth the extra money. In addition, the cash flow analysis is primitive and not flexible enough for my purposes. Finally, I have had a total failure of the program in which I had to reinstall all the software. No data was lost, but I have more inportant ways to spend my valuable time. Quite frankly, I believe financial software is overdue for some competition.
Rating:  - Excellent upgrade -- Finally!
I've used Money since Money98, and Money 2003 is (finally!) a very good product/upgrade solution.What I like: Money 2003 is much more code-efficient than Money 2002 (which was a terrible performer -- even on a fast 2 gig Pentium), so everything is quicker: reports run quickly, data entry is quick, and budget changes are quick. Secondly, Money 2003 didn't remove key functionality that its predecessors sometime did -- so if you use an older version of Money, the features you like are still there. Thirdly, you can batch epayments together and send them all at once (conversely, Money 2002 sent a payment by piecemeal, which was extremely slow and frustrating). Fourthly, a good product has been tweaked to iron-out some of the frustrations of earlier versions. In all -- it's a nice piece of software. What I don't like: So far, I like everything I've seen. If there is something you don't like about Money, in all likelihood, there is an Options setting that will correct the problem. For example, to remove "sponsor" ads from within Money, find the option setting to stop displaying all sponsor's ads (by default, they'll show up). Also, when upgrading from an earlier version of Money, the newly-installed Money 2003 installation isn't smart enough to know that you already have a Money file that you want to just pick-up and use. You have to exit out of the set-up prompts, click File, Open and go from there. Not a big problem, but if you're not confident with upgrades, this might raise your stress level a notch.
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