Download Price Quotes to Microsoft Money After Microsoft Pulls the Plug
There is a small piece of unfinished business in my series for replacing Microsoft Money. After giving my requirements and looking at Quicken, GnuCash, and Moneydance, I came upon two OFX scripts for downloading transactions directly from the financial institutions, outside of Microsoft Money.
Those scripts will take care of the transactions. They will also update the prices for the securities held in the investment accounts that provide transaction download. However, if you have holdings in accounts that do not provide transaction download, the prices for those holdings are still not updated.
With the help of a book from the library, Learning Python, and a lot of Googling, I came up with a new script that gets the quotes from Yahoo! and writes a dummy OFX file for importing into Microsoft Money. Being a Python newbie, I'm sure the script can be made much more elegant, but what I have now works.
Replacing Microsoft Money, Part 5: OFX Scripts
This is part 5 in my series for replacing Microsoft Money. I gave my requirements in part 1. Then I looked at Quicken, GnuCash, and Moneydance.
I still haven't found a perfect replacement for Microsoft Money. Money isn't perfect either, but it's working. Well, sort of. I already know the bugs and limitations and I know how to work around them.
Having suffered from being at the mercy of one software vendor, I really don't look forward to jumping into the arms of another vendor with the same policy of automatically disabling features. Meanwhile, the contenders GnuCash and Moneydance still don't match all the functionalities I'd like to have.
Replacing Microsoft Money, Part 4: Moneydance
[Update on Sept. 5, 2009] After evaluating the alternatives, I discovered a way to automatically download the transactions and price quotes and feed them to Money after Microsoft pulls the plug. See follow-up posts Replacing Microsoft Money, Part 5: OFX Scripts and Download Price Quotes to Microsoft Money After Microsoft Pulls the Plug.
This is part 4 in my series for replacing Microsoft Money. I gave my requirements in part 1. I looked at Quicken and GnuCash in parts 2 and 3. This time I'm looking at Moneydance.
Moneydance is a Java application that runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows. Unlike GnuCash, MoneyDance is not free. It's made by a small company called The Infinite Kind. As far as I can tell, the application is primarily developed by one developer Sean Reilly. A Moneydance license costs $40. There is a trial version that limits to 100 transactions. I tested Moneydance 2008r4 on Windows.
Replacing Microsoft Money, Part 3: GnuCash
[Update on Sept. 5, 2009] After evaluating the alternatives, I discovered a way to automatically download the transactions and price quotes and feed them to Money after Microsoft pulls the plug. See follow-up posts Replacing Microsoft Money, Part 5: OFX Scripts and Download Price Quotes to Microsoft Money After Microsoft Pulls the Plug.
This is part 3 in my series for replacing Microsoft Money. I gave my requirements part 1 and I looked at Quicken in part 2. This time I'm looking at GnuCash.
GnuCash is a free, open source application. It works on Linux, Mac, and Windows. I tried the version 2.3.4 on Windows.
Replacing Microsoft Money, Part 2: Quicken
[Update on Sept. 5, 2009] After evaluating the alternatives, I discovered a way to automatically download the transactions and price quotes and feed them to Money after Microsoft pulls the plug. See follow-up posts Replacing Microsoft Money, Part 5: OFX Scripts and Download Price Quotes to Microsoft Money After Microsoft Pulls the Plug.
This is part 2 in my series for replacing Microsoft Money. In part 1 I laid out my requirements for the replacement application.
Quicken has been around for more than 20 years. It's in stores everywhere. If someone is new to Quicken, there are many books about Quicken. Although its publisher Intuit doesn't offer a free trial (there is a 60-day money back guarantee), I'm pretty sure Quicken can do everything I do in Microsoft Money. However, I'm a little worried about what Intuit would do after Quicken becomes a de facto monopoly.
Replacing Microsoft Money, Part 1: Requirements
[Update on Sept. 5, 2009] After evaluating the alternatives, I discovered a way to automatically download the transactions and price quotes and feed them to Money after Microsoft pulls the plug. See follow-up posts Replacing Microsoft Money, Part 5: OFX Scripts and Download Price Quotes to Microsoft Money After Microsoft Pulls the Plug.
Back in June 2009, Microsoft announced they would stop selling their personal finance software Microsoft Money. I have been a Microsoft Money user since it was Money '98. With Microsoft's throwing in the towel, my current version will work as-is until September 2010. After that, two download features will stop working:
- download transactions from my banks, credit cards, and brokerage accounts from inside the money program, without having to go to the web site of each bank, credit card company, and brokerage firm
- download the current prices for my investments
Stable Value Funds, Money Market Funds, and Saving Too Much
I read Stable value funds: they look good until you look closer from The Investment Fiduciary. Stable value funds look like money market funds, until there are systematic withdrawals. When that happens, the insurance company can make a negative "market value adjustment" to the fund. If you invest in a stable value fund, make sure you are not among the last ones out.
Speaking of money market funds, Marketplace Money Economic Editor Chris Farrell declared in Fall of the Money Market
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