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Moneywell

My switch from MS Money to Quicken (for Windows)

by Philip Sellers January 5, 2010

written by Philip Sellers

I have chronicled my search for a Mac money management replacement for Microsoft Money. Unfortunately, after trials and testing, I have not found a suitable Mac solution that works fully for me. So, after searching, Quicken for Windows 2010 is my new solution and so far, its working pretty well. There were a few requirements that the software needed, although, I didn’t realize what I needed when I began my search.

Seemless integration with online banking service to pull down transactions
Ability to import my transaction history from Microsoft Money (and import it pretty easily)
Ability to preserve my categories after import
Ability to preserve my transfer transactions (for reporting purposes) between accounts
Ability to setup recurring transactions for bills, paychecks and things that recur.
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January 5, 2010 2 comments

Home Tech

Update on my money management software

by Philip Sellers December 22, 2009

written by Philip Sellers

A commenter asked for an update on Moneywell and my switch to it for my primary money management platform. Alas, I have to report that its not good news. I have completely abandoned Moneywell and I haven’t launched the software in several months. Here is the update I sent to my commenter, Daniel:

Unfortunately yes, I am still using Microsoft Money – I can’t break my habits there and Moneywell, albeit nice, has some things that I just can’t get accustomed to. I really need the running totals on accounts because of the number of transactions that I post each week and missing those makes it very hard to reconcile my accounts. I think that is the key feature missing for me. I just wish there was a preference to enable that within the program. It seems like such an easy feature to add.

I notice too that Quicken is releasing an “Essentials for Mac” package with the new Financial Life, but that won’t meet my needs – particularly on the investment side. So I am still looking. I would switch to Mint.com if I were able to import my account histories. I just have so much past history in my data file that I want to keep for year to year reference and to look back – I hate to abandon it, but I fear that I’ll soon be locked out if I ever have to reinstall MS Money.

I know that I can’t be the only Mac user in the world looking for a suitable money management package. Its a market which has a bunch of new options – what are some – what are you using?

December 22, 2009 0 comments

Moneywell, I’ve all but abandoned thee

by Philip Sellers July 20, 2009

written by Philip Sellers

Yeah, seems like today is a day of #fail for me. I realize today scanning over my blog content that I’ve all but abandoned my new buddy Moneywell. Its very close to a month since I used it last and although I really like the software, its different and I’m having troubles with that. I am still finding myself relying on Microsoft Money and its darned running balances. Habit is hard to break.

Now, a month later, I have a lot of reconciliation to do to catch up in Moneywell. The thing I am struggling with most in the software are duplicate transactions and how to easily find them. Running balance is how I’ve always been able to check and make sure everything is on track from day to day, and although the daily totals are in Moneywell, I’m finding it hard to find errors.

And, part of this is self-inflicted (see, really sensing a theme here). I like to prepopulate my transactions in my financial program and so there are transactions for up to a month in advance in Moneywell. So when the real transaction downloads and the dollar amounts don’t match from my guestimate transaction, my balances go wonky.

The other thing I miss from Microsoft Money is my bill reminders – my recurring transactions in Quickbooks speak. I’ve used these to remind me of annual and quarterly bills, plus my monthly transactions. Its kept me honest with the trash company and even helped me make sure I never overdraw the account on a month-to-month basis.

So, back to the drawing board. I need to carve out some time this week in the evening to get things caught up in Moneywell. I really believe the software has a lot of promise for me and for my family’s finances. I need to give it an honest try!

July 20, 2009 3 comments

Apple Datacenter Home Tech Software

Moving from MS Money to Moneywell

by Philip Sellers June 12, 2009

written by Philip Sellers

I think that I have settled on Moneywell as my software of choice for Mac money management. I really like how this software is setup for an envelope system style of managing your money. I also like that it imported my QIF exports, although there is no way for it to preserve transfer transactions between accounts.

I initially had problems and had dimissed Moneywell because I could not connect to my primary bank. After perusing the Quicken Financial Life forums (I was a beta tester), I found the issue – I was not using the correct username and password. To work with my bank, I needed to provide my member number and PIN to authenticate – not my website username and password. Worked that out, and now automatic updates are all set.

June 12, 2009 1 comment